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Russia bans Tatar leader from Crimea

22 April 2014 11:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People said Mustafa Dzhemilev, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the former chairman of the Mejlis, had been handed a notice banning him from Russia for five years, APA reports quoting World Bulletin.

A leading figure in the Crimean Tatar minority has been barred by Russia from returning to the peninsula following its annexation by Moscow, the Tatar community's assembly said on Tuesday. In an online statement, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People said Mustafa Dzhemilev, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the former chairman of the Mejlis, had been handed a notice banning him from Russia for five years as he crossed back to mainland Ukraine after a weekend in Crimea.

Dzhemilev, born Crimea in 1943, said that he would return to Crimea despite the ban.

Mustafa Dzhemilev was firstly banned from entering Crimea last Sunday, but later he was allowed. Following it, Ukraine’s flag was hoisted at Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People in Simferopol. This has caused discontent of the local authorities.

He was only six months old when his family, with the rest of the Crimean Tatar population, was deported by Soviet authorities in May 1944. He grew up in exile, in Uzbekistan. He thus began the arduous and long struggle for the recognition of the rights of Crimean Tatars to return to their homeland. He has served in Soviet prisons and labor camps for 15 years. He was released after negotiations between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1986.