Jan 27, 2009

Crimean Tatars: Outcry Over Vandalism of Mosques


Sample ImageAnother incident of vandalism causes outrage in the Crimean community as a swastika is reported to have been drawn on a mosque in Aqmescit.

Below is an article published by World Bulletin:


Crimean Tatars applied to a Ukrainian council over rising vandalism on mosques against Muslims.

[An] Elders' quorum of the Crimean Tatar people 'Namus' [has] applied to the Council on National Security and Defence of Ukraine (CNSDU) with [a] demand to make urgent measures for stabilization of interreligious situation in Crimea and hinder xenophobia that is growing day by day in the peninsula, reported QHA, Crimean news agency.

Such [a] demand is stated in a wire of NGO Namus sent to the CNSDU after regular acts of vandalism was made on the evening of January 21, 2009 towards a Moslem […] place of worship.

"As political tension heightens in Crimea, number of provocations directed to strong-arm confrontation between the Crimean Tatars and Russian-speaking population is increasing. Unknown criminals are destroying and defacing the monuments of famous figures of the Crimean Tatar people erected in Crimean towns as well as gravestones in cemeteries.

Graffiti on walls and fences that outrag[e] honour and dignity, religious feelings of the Crimean Tatars [has] multiplied. Another lowdown graffito – Nazi swastika – appears on the Moslem community 'Battal Çelebi' building on Krasnoznamennaya Street in Aqmescit (Simferopil)."

"On the assumption of above-mentioned, Elders' quorum of the Crimean Tatar people 'Namus' demands your urgent intervention to calm a situation in Crimea" – summing up the Crimean Tatar NGO.