Russia repeats Stalinist policies by deporting Crimean Tatar leader. In 1998 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, awarded Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev the UNs highest award for work in the area of forced displacement and refugees. As the UNHCR caption to the photo says, it was given to Mr. Dzhemilev for his commitment to the right of return of the Crimean Tatar people, and the leadership which he provided in its enduring peaceful struggle to overcome the injustices to which it had been subjected. Today, it has been announced that Russia has banned this courageous and principled man - the Mandela of the Crimean Tatar people - from his Crimean homeland. This cruel act replicates in a symbolic way the deportation of the Crimean Tatars carried out by Stalin in 1944 and which remained in effect until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment in 1991 of an independent Ukrainian state. I have been privileged to know and work with this remarkable leader.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 09:58:50 +0000
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