A correspondent of Suspilne Crimea reported about it.

77 works by Ukrainian artist Yuriy Khimich were placed in the corridor of the sixth floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The paintings depict the landscapes of Bakhchisaray, Sevastopol, and other Crimean cities.

These are works from the Crimean cycle of the author, which he painted during his stay in the Soviet army in Sevastopol. Only diplomats and employees of the department will see the paintings. The exhibition will last for a few weeks.

Source: Suspilne Crimea

First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar noted that in those days when he was painting these pictures, security services came to Khimich with searches. The Soviet government put pressure on him because, after the deportation, they did everything so that no one would remember the Crimean Tatar people.

“These paintings provide an opportunity to see what Crimea looked like immediately after the deportation because he painted them in the 1950s - what it would look like today if the occupation had not taken place”, - Dzheppar added.

Source: Suspilne Crimea

According to the Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Tamila Tasheva, the pictures reminded about places in Crimea.

“Therefore, to remind once again that Crimea is Ukraine, this is our heart, we must return it. As a person cannot live without a heart, so Ukraine cannot live without it”, - Tasheva stressed.

Read more: Deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. History of genocide.

According to the chairperson of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, he thought the artist was a dissident because, in Soviet times, it was forbidden to paint pictures of the Crimean Tatar life.

“When I looked at the paintings, I immediately recognized some Bakhchisaray lanes. He did not put a caption that said it was Bakhchisaray. It is Takhtali-Jami Street that goes from the Khan’s Palace towards Zindzirli Medrese. This street is recognizable to everyone who has been to Bakhchisaray at least once”, - he said.

For the head of the spiritual administration of the Muslims of the peninsula, the Mufti of Crimea Ayder Rustemov, it is not just a Day of Remembrance, it is also a Day of the struggle for the rights of the Crimean Tatar People.

“My parents and I returned to Crimea in 1988, and I saw my grandmother cry when she found her home. Although my generation did not witness deportation, this pain remains”, - Ayder Rustemov shared.

As the permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Anton Korynevych noted, it is impossible to forgive the separation of the people from their land.

“The Crimean Tatar people must be in Crimea. They have no other motherland”, - he said.

Source: Suspilne Crimea

What is known

• On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova recalled Russia is persecuting 93 Crimean Tatars for political reasons. Of these, 78 are serving illegal sentences in Russia.
• According to Volodymyr Zelensky, the number of Crimean Tatars decreased by about 50% due to the actions of the USSR.
• Leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, said that Russia was currently using a terrorist regime against Crimea, which in many respects was similar to the Soviet regime in its most brutal periods.
• According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the international community must recognize the deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide.
• On the 77th anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Tatars from Crimea, in the village of Ichki (Sovetske) of the occupied peninsula, a dua was held.
• The UWC urged to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as genocide.
• The SBU archive published photos of the Crimean Tatars who were shot for resisting the Bolsheviks in 1937-1938.