Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 25 – Many people
have focused on the way in which social media are transforming political life
around the world, but the Crimean Tatars are now making use of a slightly older
but equally powerful device to end run the actions of the Russian occupation
authorities in their homeland.
That is video conferencing. On Friday, the Crimean Tatar Mejlis met in
Simferopol and took actions as usual except for one detail: Its chairman, Refat
Chubarov, was not in the room but rather in another Ukrainian city but
participating via a video conference link (nazaccent.ru/content/12892-medzhlis-isklyuchil-iz-svoih-ryadov-treh.html).
Chubarov was not there physically
because the Russian occupation authorities have banned him and his predecessor
Mustafa Cemilev from entering their homeland for five years. In the past, other
Crimean Tatars have travelled beyond the zone of Russian occupation to meet
with the two, but now Chubarov and presumably Cemilev have the ability to be
there virtually.
That development may be more important
than any of the decision which were taken at the Mejlis session. Among those was the exclusion from the body
of three individuals who have chosen to occupy positions of power in the Russian
occupation regime: Remzi Ilyasov, Teyfuk Gafarov and Zaur Smirnov, the last of
which earlier suspended his participation.
Ilyasov is serving as deputy
chairman of the Russian occupation State Council of Crimea, Gafarov has been
appointed vice mayor of Simferopol, and Smirnov continues to serve as head of
the republic committee for inter-ethnic relations and the affairs of deported
citizens.
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