23 October 2025

Son of Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev dies

(Mustafa Dzhemilev. PHOTO: mustafa.abduljemil)

On the morning of October 22, 2025, after a long illness, Eldar Ebubekirov, the son of Safinar Dzhemileva and the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, People's Deputy of Ukraine Mustafa Dzhemilev, died at the age of 52.

This was reported by the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov on his social media pages.

The Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov, expressing condolences to the family, noted that in the 2000s Eldar Ebubekirov was a member of the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent, which was part of the multinational coalition in Iraq from 2003 to 2008.

The Chairman of the Mejlis expressed his deepest condolences on behalf of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to Mustafa and Safinar Dzhemilev, as well as to all the relatives and friends of the deceased.

As a reminder, in April, the premiere of the movie about the love and struggle of the leader of the Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzhemilev and his wife is to take place. The film shows their resilience in exile and repression, drawing attention to the topic of dignity and justice.

On April 10, the film Oxygen Station, a story of love, dignity and struggle that does not stop even in exile, is to be released in Ukraine. The film, directed by Ivan Tymchenko, tells the story of the leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev and his wife Safinar, who went through repression, prison and exile together.

The Oxygen Station depicts the events of the summer of 1980, when Mustafa Dzhemilev, a longtime political prisoner, was serving another exile in Soviet Yakutia, at an oxygen station in the village of Zyryanka. Every day he filled the rusty cylinders with oxygen, and that's where his love story with his future wife Safinar begins.

Mustafa is a dissident exiled thousands of kilometers from home, and Safinar is a young teacher who sets out on a journey to meet him. They got married a few days after they met, because marriage was the only way for her to stay close to him.

The film took over five years to complete and is a new project from the creators of Ilovaysk 2014. The Donbas Battalion, directed by Ivan Tymchenko and written by Mykhailo Brynykh.

Катерина Глушко

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