CGF: Crime & Crimean Tatars: One Year After the Russian Invasion

The Niagara Foundation is pleased to host a film screening of “Son of Crimea: Struggle of a People.”

February 27, 2014 marked the beginning of the Russian invasion of Crimea which culminated in the internationally condemned annexation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation three weeks later. In this past year, the Crimean Tatars–the indigenous Turkic Muslim people of Crimea–have faced escalating human rights abuses ranging from intimidation to murder and violations of their basic rights of self-governance, citizenship and freedom of speech.

Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine, which has been under Russian occupation since last year. Little is known to the Western world about Crimean Tatars and their continuing struggles for over two centuries. The most devastating event of their history was the May 18, 1944, mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan and other distant Soviet republics under the order of Stalin. Almost 250,000 people were deported and half of them died of starvation and illnesses within one year. Centered around the legendary leader of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jemilev, the feature length documentary, Son of Crimea: Struggle of a People, offers detailed information about the Deportation and the continuing struggle of the Crimean Tatars to return to their homeland.

Barbara Wieser, a Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who worked in Crimea for over four years, will introduce the documentary and provide historical background.
Following the documentary screening, there will be a live online discussion with a young Crimean Tatar activist, Serdar Seitaptiev, who is an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) living in L’viv, Ukraine. He will provide first-hand accounts of the ongoing human rights violations Crimean Tatars are currently facing.

If you have difficulties registering for this screening, please CONTACT Rana Yurtsever, Program Director for Niagara’s Center for Public and Global Affairs, via email at [email protected] or phone 312-240-0707 Ext. 107.