Monument to general who defended Crimean Tatars demolished in Simferopol

The Russians have demolished a monument to the dissident general Petro Hryhorenko, who supported Crimean Tatars and opposed their deportation by the Soviet authorities from Crimea. 

Source: İlmi Ümerov, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, in a comment to the Suspilne national broadcaster

Details: In 1999, the monument was installed in Simferopol on Radianska Square at the initiative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and with the assistance of the People's Movement of Ukraine.

According to Ümerov, he was informed about the demolition of the monument on 27 May by an acquaintance who lives in occupied Crimea.

Quote: "They removed it [the monument – ed.], most likely, on the eve of 18 May. It was not in a very visible place, and people might not have noticed. Perhaps everyone there is so intimidated by these ‘authorities’ that people are afraid to even say anything."

Details: Ümerov said that Hryhorenko "very actively supported Crimean Tatars in their struggle to return to their homeland from deportation". The General travelled to the trials of Mustafa Dzhemilev, and came to one of the trials in Tashkent.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis, Crimean Tatars visited Petro Hryhorenko, and he invited them to stay in his house and supported them in every way he could.

Ümerov noted that the occupation authorities in Crimea are fighting the Ukrainian heritage even more brutally than the Crimean Tatar heritage.

Quote: "They [the Russians – ed.] are concerned about everything: Ukrainian schools, Ukrainian classrooms, the Ukrainian language, and here is a whole general... They are destroying everything Ukrainian even more brutally than everything Crimean Tatar. Ukrainian schools have disappeared completely, while Crimean Tatar schools have survived, but in a different form. Before the occupation of Crimea, these were schools teaching in Crimean Tatar, and now they are Russian-teaching schools for Crimean Tatars. There are no Crimean Tatar schools anymore, but there are schools that we created, where Crimean Tatars go out of habit, out of inertia, although there is no longer any teaching in Crimean Tatar there."

For reference: The monument to dissident general Petro Hryhorenko was erected in 1999 on the initiative of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and with the assistance of the People's Movement of Ukraine in Simferopol on Radianska Square, but without the permission of the city authorities.

In 2004, the Simferopol City Council recognised the status of the monument as legitimate and decided to rename the area around it to Petro Hryhorenko Square.

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