October 30, 2009
Terrorist Plan to Kill Crimean Tatar Leader
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev says he believes Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) is behind a special operation to assassinate him, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
Leaders of the movement are alleged to have issued a fatwa to kill Dzhemilev and some of his associates for their criticism of radical Islam.
Dzhemilev told RFE/RL that members of a radical Islamic movement who were recently arrested "could hardly" initiate such an assassination plan.
Dzhemilev said the spiritual direction of the Crimean Muslims and radical Islamist organizations share a "mutual enmity." He added that radical Islamists have nothing in common with Islam and should be called extremists.
But Dzhemilev said he knows from diplomatic sources about FSB plans to have him killed. He said "some states who are not interested in allowing democratization in Ukraine" might be sponsoring the extremist Islamic organizations.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko said the arrested members of the Islamist group are refusing to talk. He said they refuse to recognize Ukrainian laws and say they are subordinate only to their religion.
Crimean police chief Gennady Moskal told RFE/RL that an estimated 100 members of extremist organizations are active in Crimea. He said security forces are searching for At-Takfir wal-Hidjra's leader.
Moskal added that some refugees from Uzbekistan join up with Ukrainian extremist organizations.
He said he does not believe there is "a Russian trace" in any assassination plan for Dzhemilev.
Dzhemilev, who is the chairman of the Crimean Tatar Assembly and spent many years in the gulag as a Soviet dissident, had previously called on the Ukrainian government to allow the 33 Crimean Tatar parliament members to carry arms due to threats from Islamic extremists.
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UNPO Statement on Assassination Attempt of Mr. Mustafar Dzhemilev
October 30 2009
For the PDF version of this statement, please click here.
It is with great regret that UNPO learns of the attempted assassination of Mr. Mustafar Dzhemilev, the national leader of the Crimean Tatars and the head the Crimean Tatar Parliament and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. He has for many years led the nonviolent struggle of the Crimean Tatar people to return to their homeland, the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, following half a century of forced exile initiated by Joseph Stalin in1944.
UNPO denounce the act intended to distress and dissuade a noble leader from continuing to conduct his nonviolent campaign to reinstate the rights of the Crimean Tatar people. It is an act that provides further evidence that systematic persecution of the Crimean Tatar people is not only ongoing but of a potency capable of destabilising the region.
The 7th Session of the UNPO Presidency was taking place in Crimea at the time the plot was being formulated. In a symbolic gesture of the recognition of his depth of character and resilience in the face of persecution and prison terms, the Presidency committed to lobby for Mr. Dzhemilev to be recognised as a worthy Nobel Peace Prize candidate. They also agreed that the Ukrainian government should proceed immediately towards the full restoration of the rights of Crimean Tatars in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law and in dialogue with the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People adapting the law to provide protection for minority groups. It is saddening to note the contrast between the UNPO meeting and the assassination conspiracy.
Only through these and similar measures will the vitriolic campaign of racial hatred towards the Crimean Tatar people subside and the basic human right of personal security become a reality. Regardless of the origins of the assassination attempt, UNPO wholeheartedly believes the Ukrainian government and the European Union must act to provide sufficient safeguards for minority leaders to enable them to conduct their tireless work.
UNPO recently conducted the 7th Session of the UNPO Presidency in Crimea as well as a short fact-finding trip that investigated the problems faced by Crimean Tatars within their homeland. Meetings were held with Mejlis officials, including Mr. Dzhemilev. A joint statement was issued, the text of which can be read below:
“Restoration of the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People”
Joint Declaration
The Mejlis Of the Crimean Tatar People and the
Presidency of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Simferopol, 10 October 2009
Following detailed consideration of the present situation of the Crimean Tatar people in Ukraine discussed during the roundtable, ‘Restoration of the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People’, held on 8-9 October 2009 in Crimea (Ukraine), the members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) Presidency and the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People have identified joint actions in the struggle to restore the rights of Crimean Tatars and the national-territorial autonomy of Crimea within the borders of an independent Ukraine.
The UNPO and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People therefore declare to the international community and institutions:
- Their strong support for the United Nations Human Rights Council’s decision to recognize mass deportation as a crime against humanity and call on the international community to recognize the deportation of Crimean Tatars carried out by the USSR on 18 May 1944 and the decades of subsequent enforced exile, and in which 46.2% of Crimean Tatars died, as a crime against the humanity of the Crimean Tatar people;
- A resolute commitment to the peaceful and nonviolent campaign for recognition of the Crimean Tatar people as an indigenous people of Crimea, for the full restoration of rights, including their inalienable right to restore the national-territorial autonomy of the Crimea within the borders of an independent Ukraine;
- That UNPO, together with the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People, will develop and implement programmes calling on the international community, and in particular the members of the European Union, to support the process of restoring the rights of the Crimean Tatars;
- That the Ukrainian government should proceed immediately towards the full restoration of the rights of Crimean Tatars in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law and in dialogue with the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People;
Signed:
Ledum Mitee
President
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
Refat Chubarov
First Deputy Head
Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People
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For more information on UNPO's Presidency Meeting in Crimea and on the fact-finding mission investigating the problems faced by Crimean Tatars, please click here.
