Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Crimean Tatar Activist Aisha Seitmuratova Detained, then Forced to Return Home to Simferopol


Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 8 – Aisha Seitmuratova, 82, who has participated in the Crimean Tatar national movement for decades, was detained and then released by Russian guards at the administrative border between Ukraine and occupied Crimea and allowed to return to her home in Simferopol (atr.ua/news/193416-ajse-seitmuratova-nahoditsa-u-seba-doma-v-simferopole).

            The Russian border troops took this step because Seitmuratova has a US passport, which she acquired after being expelled from the USSR in 1978. In the years between her expulsion and her return to her homeland following the collapse of the Soviet Union, she was a frequent star in Crimean Tatar demonstrations and hearings about her nation in Washington.

            Since returning to Crimea, she has operated a pension where she has welcomed her many friends and supporters; but she has never yielded in her support for the Crimean Tatar cause and its aspirations for independence. 

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