Staunton, November 26 – Mustafa Cemilev,
the longtime leader of the Crimean Tatars, says that he is part of an effort to
create a new information network in Crimea and to have Kyiv television
broadcast one or two hours a day to the occupied peninsula in order to counter
Russian propaganda and prevent the “zombification” of its residents.
Speaking at a meeting yesterday of
the SOS Crimea initiative, Cemilev said that this was such an important task
that he would give the money he has received for various prizes this year to
help get it started, noting that the channels would have to be staffed by
professional journalists, legal specialists and others who could provide expert
commentaries (dusia.telekritika.ua/novosti/26843/).
He said that this network as well as
Crimea-centered broadcasts from Kyiv was needed not only to help the people of
the occupied peninsula but also to ensure that “the Crimea issue not fall off
the pages of the Ukrainian and the international press.” There is too much going on and too much at
stake for that to happen.
Although the Crimean Tatar leader
did not speak to this aspect of the issue, there is clearly a role for
international broadcasters to play in Crimea as well. The Russian and Ukrainian
services of such broadcasters should have dedicated programming for Crimea, and
their Turkic and Tatar services should be expanded to assist in that effort.
Indeed, it is clearly long past time
to begin thinking about creating a Crimean Tatar service at one or more of
these stations, any one of which would be able to broadcast television and FM
from Ukrainian territory not occupied by Russian forces or via shortwave from
further away.
Setting up such services would not
only help Cemilev and others counter what Russian propaganda is doing and
prevent Crimea from slipping further and further away from Ukraine but also
would send a powerful message, just as Western broadcasting did during the Cold
War, that the West has not and will not forget the people of Crimea.
No comments:
Post a Comment