Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 24 – Igor
Semivolos, director of the Kyiv Center for Near Eastern Research, says that the
Crimean Tatars must prepare themselves for what had been unthinkable only a few
months ago: their forcible deportation from their homeland by the Russian
occupiers for the second time, an action that would constitute a clear “crime
against humanity.”
But because this threat is now so
clear, he told “Obozrevatel’” yesterday, the Crimean Tatars cannot afford to
wait but must consider what they must do now, including “restructuring” their
national movement (qha.com.ua/semivolos-krimskotatarskoe-natsdvijenie-doljno-perestrukturizirovatsya-140065.html).
“It
is one thing when you are acting under conditions of peace, a culture of
dialogue and compromise, but it is quite another when you are acting under
conditions of a culture of force,” Semivolos said. “It is necessary to change
strategy,” and that means adopting a policy of non-violence resistance on all
occasions “and not just sporadically.”
The
Kyiv-based expert also said that the Ukrainian government must not ignore the
problems of the Crimean Tatars but raise the issue of their treatment by the
Russian occupation authorities in all international organizations of which
Ukraine is a member and in all talks which it has with foreign governments.
This
is a matter not only for the Ukrainian government but for all countries and
people of good will. Too often in recent
weeks, Western governments and media have focused on what is going on with
Russian aggression in other parts of Ukraine and have been treating Crimea as
yesterday’s news.
But
Semivolos’ warning should change that: Not only has Vladimir Putin illegally
occupied the territory of a neighboring state, but his regime may be on the
brink of committing not just a crime of war but a crime against humanity. That
danger is something everyone should oppose lest it happen -- or even worse lest
he commit it against others as well.
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