Canadian and Crimean Tatar Parliamentarians Meet

Ottawa – On August 10 in Simferopol, Crimea, Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre) met with Mustafa Dzemiliev, revered Chairman of the Mejlis (parliament) of the Crimean Tatar People, and Ukrainian Member of Parliament. Mr. Dzemiliev is a former political prisoner who served 18 years in Soviet gulag camps, and recipient of the UN Nansen Prize for championing the cause of human rights.

“It was a great personal honour for me as a Canadian parliamentarian to meet the legendary human rights activist Mustafa Dzemiliev. His heroic efforts to bring the Tatars back to the Crimea came up directly against the impenetrable wall of Soviet brutality,” said Wrzesnewskyj.

Dzemiliev was repeatedly arrested and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment for his views and activities during Soviet times. While Dzemiliev was a political prisoner, Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident and later President, and Andrey Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist turned dissident, spoke out in his defence. Through his policies, the national movement of Crimean Tatars has preserved its democratic policies of peaceful co-existence within Ukraine.

“As the founder of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group … it was important… to show solidarity with the Tatars of Crimea by meeting with Mr. Dzemiliev. This is especially timely considering… Russian secret security forces on the Crimean peninsula fanning chauvinism, hatred and the alleged arming and training of militias (“cossack formations”) in the region… As a proponent of human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, non-violence and democracy, Mustafa Dzemiliev is seen as a bulwark against those proposing chauvinism, extremism and violence. In August 2009, senior advisor to the Russian Embassy in Ukraine Vladimir Lysenko, was expelled by the former Ukrainian Presidential Administration for his clandestine work in an alleged plot to assassinate Dzemiliev,” stated Wrzesnewskyj.

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L. to R.: Chair of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzemiliev and MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj