Odesa Discussion Highlights Crimea's 11-Year Occupation and Resistance

The discussion about Crimea and the resistance to the occupation, which has been going on for 11 years, took place in Odesa as part of the art and information exhibition "Unseen Power" at the Odesa National Art Museum.

Among all the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Crimea has been in this state for the longest time, since 2014.

During this time, a generation has grown up that no longer remembers what it was like to live in Ukraine. At the same time, there are people in Crimea who remain a threat to the occupying Russian authorities. After 2014, Crimea became visible in a new light from within Ukraine. At the same time, it has become commonplace to live apart.

Is a return possible? Is it possible to resume living together? And what can we do today to make this possible? Martin-Oleksandr Kyslyy, PhD in History, lecturer at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Advocacy Director at ZMINA, and Mavile Khalil, editor-in-chief of the Crimean Tatars website and editor of the Tamırlar project, discussed this with Odesa residents.

Also participating in the discussion was Fevzi Mamutov, head of the Crimean Tatars of Odesa region and a member of the Odesa Regional Council.

"The occupation has brought repression, political persecution, destruction of cultural heritage, and systemic human rights violations. It has also brought a certain mental and informational gap between us and our citizens who remain under occupation. But at the same time, Crimea remains a part of Ukraine not only legally, but also in the hearts of people who are fighting for its return," the deputy noted.

Meanwhile, Kherson activist Iryna Gorobtsova, who was taken to Crimea by Russia and sentenced to 10 years for "espionage," was taken out of the pre-trial detention center in annexed Simferopol.

Earlier, the human rights organization Crimea SOS stated that the imprisonment of Kherson activist Iryna Gorobtsova has signs of enforced disappearance, and her forced transfer to the Simferopol detention center is illegal. In November 2023, Ukrainian human rights activists reported that in Crimea, Russian security forces interrogated Irina Gorobtsova with a polygraph.

Кирило Бойко