During the visit to Indonesia as a member of the delegation, Head of the Crimea Platform Department Maria Tomak spoke with a journalist from the national news resource GATRA TV. It was published on the YouTube channel of this media

Maria Tomak shared the objectives of the delegation’s visit to Indonesia, as well as the key outcomes of the meetings held during the week with representatives of both the governmental and non-governmental sectors. They also discussed why the situation in the temporary occupied Crimea may be of interest to Indonesian society, and the persecution of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people under occupation. They also talked about the problems of perception of topics related to Ukraine. In particular, the lack of knowledge about our country, which can and should be filled with various non-political projects, such as cultural projects, that would familiarize this predominantly Muslim part of the world, for example, with the fact that Muslims have lived on the current territory of Ukraine for centuries.

They also talked about the problem of colonization of Crimea, the destruction by Russians of the cultural heritage of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians, and attempts to destroy the identity of the local population, which repeats the practices of the colonial era, and which is also well known to Indonesians who were forced to fight for their independence. The return of the cultural heritage stolen in colonial times from the former metropolis continues to this day.

“Why do we say that Russia’s policy towards Crimea is colonial? There is no respect for human rights, indigenous peoples, or identity. This policy is to use Crimea as a military base. This was a common practice in previous centuries all over the world, you know this very well. But the problem is that it is happening again, today, before our eyes,” she emphasized.

Emphasizing the value of achieving peace not only in Ukraine but also throughout the world, the Head of the Crimea Platform Department also mentioned the Peace Formula of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which concerns not only the territorial integrity of our country but also a much wider range of issues of concern to the international community, such as nuclear security, food and energy security.