Dear attendees, dear participants, guests, our partners, friends!
Thank you very much for being with us today.
Mr. Mustafa Dzhemilev, all representatives of the Mejlis!
Dear Crimean Tatar people! All our Ukrainian people!
Today we have Nariman Dzhelyal with us. A man who is well known in Ukraine. The Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. By the way, he is a participant of our First Summit of the Crimea Platform. Like many other people whose hearts belong to Crimea and Ukraine, the Russian occupiers tried to deprive him of his home and captured Nariman as a prisoner. They captured him and kept him behind bars for almost three years. But Ukraine does not forget its prisoners and it has not forgotten Nariman Dzhelyal. We freed him, brought him home, brought him back to Ukraine, and gave him back his freedom. And this is not just about one person. This is about our fundamental policy. The policy of our state, the policy on Crimea. The policy on all our temporarily occupied territory and on all our Ukrainian citizens who have been deprived of their freedom by Russia. We will not leave anything or anyone in captivity. I would like all our citizens in Ukraine and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to hear this – no matter where you are now, and no matter how difficult it is for you. This is part of our morality. Ukraine does not trade its land and does not abandon its people. And when we work with the world for a just end to this war, we remind them not only of the land that now – temporarily – bears the occupier's tricolor, but also of people's fates that cannot be left destroyed. We in Ukraine do not forget many people. And today at the Memorial I remembered many of them, we remembered them. And we must do it all the time: remind the world, remind the loved ones and families of our prisoners that we know, we remember, and we fight for them. We remember Server Mustafayev, Leniye Umerova, Amet Suleymanov, Tofik Abdulhaziiev, Vladyslav Yesypenko, and all other Crimean prisoners – prisoners of Russia.
And the same way we remember all our people – civilians and military, adults and children – who are now in Russian captivity, or who may not be behind bars, but who are unfortunately forced to go through the humiliation of occupation – one of the greatest abuses for any free person. This is the evil that should have remained forever in the distant past, but which Russia has brought to this time, taking human lives. I ask everyone present here to observe a minute of silence to honor the memory of our people who were killed by the Russian war, who were killed by Russia in captivity, in occupation, during deportation.
Thank you.
Dear friends!
Every our citizen, all our people on all the temporarily occupied Ukrainian land, all our people who are in captivity and waiting for their release, should see the most important thing – our Ukrainian flag. To see it, to feel freedom, because they will be liberated. And also, our whole country deserves reliable, guaranteed security; and the occupier must inevitably be held accountable for all the crimes of war. All this should be a just end to the war. I want to thank all those who make this happen, who fight and work for Ukraine, for their native home. I thank all our partners – those who are present, and those who are helping us, but are not here now. Those who are really with us all the time, supporting us; and I urge everyone not to waste time, and not to miss opportunities. And I appeal to the members of the Crimea Platform: we need maximum support to bring people back from captivity and to stop all Russian abuses.
Why are Crimean Tatars persecuted in the occupied Crimea? Why have there been 10 years of repression against Muslims and many others who just want to live their lives freely? Why are most of the people in Russian captivity brutally tortured? We cannot turn a blind eye to all this. And I urge, first of all, the states of our region, and these are Muslim societies – both Türkiye and Azerbaijan –please, show your leadership and help us stand up against injustice and abuse. You need to be heard. We desperately need your voices. Especially to counter the evil that Russia is doing to the Crimean Tatar people. And we urge the countries that are working to implement the Peace Formula – and there are already almost a hundred countries from all parts of the world: convince your partners who are still holding back from working with us – convince them that true peace must have no alternatives. No frozen occupations! No people left behind in captivity! No repressions forgotten and thus seemingly forgiven by the world. When we remember the victims of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and today, we opened the Memorial in Kyiv that will preserve the memory of this crime against the people, we affirm that no crime of the occupier should remain unanswered. When we insist on a just end to the war, when we remind the world that the occupation of our Crimea was the beginning of this war, we fight for international law and the security of every nation. When our warriors liberate the Black Sea from Russia's military presence, we prove to everyone in the world that there are no omnipotent aggressors. And when our Ukrainian drones and missiles, our warriors, deprive the occupier of its tranquility, we all feel that tranquility will definitely return to Ukraine and for Ukraine. And we all want peace together. We all need security together. So, we all have to work together to advance Ukraine's victory – a truly lasting peace. I am confident: we will be able to achieve this – to achieve real peace, just peace, and above all lasting peace. We see it. And we will see, I am sure, a free Crimea.
I want to thank you all once again for always standing with Ukraine! Glory to all our warriors, to all our people!
Glory to Ukraine!
