Crimean Tatars banned from speaking their native language in Crimea – human rights activists

Since start of the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and subsequent annexation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation, the largest ethnic group in Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, experience discrimination and harassment on part of the self-declared occupation authorities. A separate problem is rising discrimination and restrictions on use of the Crimean Tatar language.

This is said in the statement of the Coalition for Combating Discrimination in Ukraine, available to the Human Rights Information Center.

In particular, according to the human rights activists, August 18, 2015, one of the three employees (Crimean Tatars), who works in a hairdressing salon in Simferopol, received a verbal reprimand for speaking Crimean Tatar in her workplace.

August 19, 2015, director Natalia Radostina told off another employee Rustem Seitov for using Crimean Tatar at the workplace and demanded that Seitov speak Russian (as she said “comprehensible language”) at work.

Natalia Radostina also banned him from performing traditional prayers at work (Rustam Seitov is a Muslim).

After the incident, Rustam Seitov appealed to the Crimean contact human rights group, where he was granted legal aid.

The human rights defenders are particularly concerned about the stance of Ombudsperson of Crimea, Liudmila Lubina, who, having formally recognized the breach, noted that “the situation is tricky, as the employee may use the fact that the director does not know Crimean Tatar to insult her.”

The human rights activists also receive troublesome information from parents, who inform that Crimean Tatars children are banned from speaking Crimean Tatar on the lessons at school. The parents also say that the amount of hours of the Crimean Tatar language lessons is reduced and the language is generally pushed out from the school curriculum. Among other problems are denial of education in the Crimean Tatar language, lack of textbooks in Crimean Tatar (the Ukrainian textbooks were seized last year, and the Russian ones are not yet available), prohibition of studying the Crimean Tatar language by children, whom the school administration does not consider to be the Crimean Tatars.

Taking into account the abovementioned circumstances, the Coalition for Combating Discrimination in Ukraine demands that discrimination against the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea be stopped.

“We urge the self-proclaimed authorities of the Crimea to respect the basic human rights as universally recognized human values ​​inherent in every civilized society, in particular – freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and freedom from discrimination,” reads the statement of the Coalition.

The human rights defenders also expect the Ukrainian authorities to take all possible measures to protect freedom of Crimean residents from discrimination. In particular, the prosecutor’s office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is asked to give proper legal assessment of the described the incident, the Government Commissioner for Crimea is asked to actualize the issue at the level of international organizations, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is asked to file a note of protest to the Russian Federation.