The 9th of August is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

On August 9th, the world marks the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. As the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications points out, this is not just a symbolic date, but also a crucial informational opportunity to amplify the voices of Ukraine’s indigenous peoples and draw attention to the situation in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine is home to Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks. Their history is heroic and tragic:

▫️ 1783, occupation of Crimea by the Russian Empire and almost complete assimilation of the Karaites.

▫️ 1941, during the Nazi occupation, up to 80% of the Krymchaks were exterminated.

▫️ 1944, deportation of the Crimean Tatars, resulting in the loss of 46.2% of their population.

Today, under Russian occupation of the peninsula, the Russian Federation:

— conducts political persecution, fabricates cases, kidnaps and tortures people;

— suppresses the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages in education, bans national holidays and symbols;

— destroys cultural heritage under the guise of “restoration” (Khan’s Palace, Chersonesos, Ukrainian museums in Yalta);

— militarises the peninsula and imposes imperial narratives.

Russia is systematically suppressing Crimean Tatar, Karaite and Krymchak identities and promoting the idea of a “single Russian people,” but representatives of indigenous peoples are offering non-violent resistance: preserving their language, traditions and religion, creating cultural and educational initiatives, and fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer battalions.

We must safeguard the rights and culture of Ukraine’s indigenous peoples, as their resilience and struggle contribute to our shared victory.

Crimea is Ukraine.