Today Ukraine celebrates the Day of the Crimean Tatar Flag – a national holiday honoring the symbol of the indigenous people of Ukraine!

Today, Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians around the world and in mainland Ukraine are raising a blue flag with a golden tamga – the blue color among Turkic peoples means freedom, strength, honesty and purity, the solid blue of the flag is a symbol of unity, and the golden tamga is the family sign of the Giray, the ruling dynasty of the Crimean Khanate.

However, since February 26, 2014, the Crimean Tatar flag has also become a symbol of struggle and resistance to the occupation of Crimea. On that day, the square in front of the Crimean Parliament was filled with the national and Crimean Tatar flags. Two flags of one Ukraine.

Because of this and the repressive policy of the Russian Federation towards indigenous peoples, it has been almost impossible to celebrate the Day of the Crimean Tatar Flag in the occupied Crimea for more than 9 years. On the eve of June 26, many activists receive “warnings” from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) – in fact, threats of extremism charges – regarding alleged “unauthorized gatherings.”

For centuries, Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians have lived side by side, fought enemies together, and our national symbols and ethnic identity have been subjected to repression by Russia. And since the declaration of Ukraine’s independence, the Crimean Tatar flag has been able to fly freely on the flagpoles of our country again. History will repeat itself, because every day Ukraine brings the de-occupation of Crimea closer.

We will win our right to freedom and European future. The Mission calls for raising the Crimean Tatar flag today alongside the national blue and yellow flag.

The two flags are already flying on the administrative buildings of the Mission in Kyiv and Kherson – and soon they will be flying on the building of our office in Simferopol!

Happy Crimean Tatar Flag Day!

Qırımtatar milliy bayraq künü hayrlı olsun!