President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded the leader of the Crimean Tatar people and the MP Mustafa Dzhemilev with the title "Hero of Ukraine".
This was reported by the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Dzhemilev received the highest state award of Ukraine for the formation and development of independent Ukraine, as well as for defending the rights of the Crimean Tatar people. In addition, the president congratulated Mustafa Dzhemilev on his 80th anniversary.
"He thanked for protecting the freedom of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar people and honored him with the title of Hero of Ukraine. A strong, worthy, courageous person. A life devoted to the protection of the peopleʼs will. I wished what we all wish: victory for Ukraine and freedom for all parts of our country. And we are doing everything to bring the liberation of Crimea closer," Zelensky wrote.
Dzhemilev noted that this award is of great value to him, and added that he dreams of returning to Crimea and being buried on his land.
- Mustafa Dzhemilev is a political and public figure of Crimean Tatar origin, the chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars from 1991 to 2013 and a former Soviet dissident. Due to his protests and struggle for the return of the Crimean Tatars to their homeland, Dzhemilev was repeatedly imprisoned in the USSR and subjected to torture.
- Russia banned Mustafa Dzhemilev from entering Crimea until 2034.