News

On 11 April, Linas Linkevičius, Minister for Foreign Affairs, welcomed participants of the meeting of the Executive Board of the World Crimean Tatar Congress, which is taking in Vilnius this year. Minister Linkevičius stressed that Lithuania condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea and that they would keep on raising the issue with international organizations and during meetings at an international level.

"Crimean Tatars have become the victims of an artificial international conflict. Crimean Tatars, who are historically linked to Lithuania, are a modern European people, and their rights should be respected and defended," Linkevičius said.

The event is attended by Crimean Tatar leaders, Mustafa Dzhemilev, and Refat Chubarov, also members of the World Crimean Tatar Congress from Bulgaria, Canada, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. Participants of the Congress were welcomed by US Senator John McCain, who delivered a pre-recorded welcoming address. The videoconference which is to connect Vilnius, Kiev and Brussels will allow the attendees of the Congress to listen to the stories of people who have been relocated from Crimea.

The Lithuanian Seimas-hosted international conference of 11 April is dedicated to reviewing the violations of human rights in Crimea, also promoting the national culture and education of Tatars and discussing the ways to improve the situation of the Crimean Tatars who have moved other regions of Ukraine.

On 12 April, the Executive Board of the World Crimean Tatar Congress will hold a closed meeting to discuss the issues included in the agenda of the Congress, such as the possibility of establishing representative offices of the World Crimean Tatar Congress in other countries, also creating a territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatars when the occupation by the Russian Federation ends, and establishing a muftiat. Representatives of the Congress are also expected to meet with Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, also the Chair of the Lithuanian Seimas, and the Prime Minister. On 13 April, members of the Congress will visit locations where members of the Lithuanian Tatar community live: the village of Keturiadešimt Totorių (Forty Tatars), also Trakai, Raižiai and Kaunas.

Meetings of the Executive Board of the World Crimean Tatar Congress take place at different Tatar-related places across the world or at locations where members of the Crimean Tatar diaspora currently live. The meetings are aimed at drawing the global attention to the situation of the Crimean Tatars, as well as the occupation and annexation of Crimea, and addressing the current issues concerning the Crimean Tatars at the level of the global diaspora of the Crimean Tatars.