On 18 May, marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was illuminated with the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian flags as a symbol of shared memory, solidarity, and resilience.

The event featured opening remarks by the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Member of Parliament Mustafa Dzhemiliev; Permanent Representative Olha Kuryshko; and Member of Parliament Tamila Tasheva. The ceremony was also attended by members of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, representatives of foreign diplomatic missions in Ukraine, and Members of Parliament.

The projection was accompanied by a recording of testimonies from deported Crimean Tatars, read by journalist and civic activist Nadzhyie Ametova, set to music by Crimean Tatar musician Usein Bekirov.

In her address, Olha Kuryshko thanked the Members of Parliament for their systemic work in defending the rights of the Crimean Tatar people and emphasised that Russia continues to exert pressure on them.

“Memory is not a ritual; memory is a stance. When we speak about 1944, we must also address what is happening in Crimea today. In effect, the Russian Federation is repeating the Stalinist repressions of 1944. We see political persecution, torture, and how a people who had returned after deportation have been forced to leave once again,” she said.

Olha Kuryshko also stressed that she is inspired by the Crimean Tatar people in their struggle and desire to return home, adding that the fight for the return of Crimea is a shared cause.

In turn, Mustafa Dzhemiliev shared that the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people left a deep trauma passed down from generation to generation through memories of mass death, famine, and inhuman conditions of eviction. According to him, these events became part of the Crimean Tatars’ historical memory and identity.

“The projection of the Crimean Tatar national flag onto the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is a powerful signal to the Crimean Tatar people living under Russian occupation. It is a message that Ukraine will never forget about Crimea and that the future of the peninsula will be determined after its de-occupation. Sooner or later, the Crimean Tatar flag, alongside the state flag of Ukraine, will fly over the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea,” Mustafa Dzhemiliev emphasised.

Member of Parliament Tamila Tasheva spoke about the importance of protecting the Crimean Tatar people within the framework of state policy. In particular, she highlighted that in 2021, the Verkhovna Rada recognised the Crimean Tatars as an Indigenous people of Ukraine, thereby granting them new rights and guarantees.

“More than half of the Crimean Tatar people perished during the deportation and in the first years of exile. Those Crimean Tatars who were deported to Central Asian countries, unfortunately, could not fully restore their potential even after returning to independent Ukraine. But Ukraine, as a state, is doing everything possible to support the Indigenous Crimean Tatar people,” Tamila Tasheva explained.

Tamila Tasheva noted that this event in the Verkhovna Rada is important and symbolic, and that Ukraine supports Crimean Tatars in their aspiration for self-determination and self-realisation.

Ukraine became the first state in the world to recognise the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people from Crimea in 1944 as an act of genocide at the legislative level. Subsequently, corresponding decisions were adopted by other states, including the parliaments of the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, and the Republic of Estonia, as well as the House of Commons of Canada, the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Senate of the Czech Republic.

The event was organised by the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea / Crimea Platform Office, in cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, with the support of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine, funded by the governments of Canada, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.