Ukrainian president highlights plight of Crimean Tatar Muslims at Arab League summit

By Emre Basaran

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted on Friday the plight of Tatar Muslims of Crimea, which remains under Russian occupation, at the Arab League Summit in Jeddah.

The president said that he arrived in Saudi Arabia with Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatar people.

Underlining that Crimean Tatar Muslims “were the first to suffer from Russian occupation,” Zelenskyy said that “most of those who suffer repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims.”

“I’m sure that none of you would watch without a fight how foreigners steal the children of your people,” he said in an appeal to Arab leaders.

“Hundreds of thousands of our children have been deported by Russia, separated from their relatives,” he said.

“They are trying to teach our children to hate their natives," he added.

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014. President Vladimir Putin formally divided the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Crimea's ethnic Tatars have since faced persecution, a situation especially decried by Türkiye.

Türkiye, the EU, US, as well as the UN General Assembly, view Crimea’s annexation as illegal.

- Conflict in Asia, Africa

He also put the spotlight on war in Libya, Syria, Yemen and parts of Africa.

“Look how much suffering the long-term wars have brought Libya, Syria, Yemen; how many lives have been wasted by years of fighting in Sudan and Somalia in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he added, drawing parallels between the conflicts in the Middle East and the war in his country.

“I greet everyone who agrees to join us in the path to justice,” he said.

Zelenskyy also mentioned Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia power plant, saying Moscow was “blackmailing the world with nuke disaster.”

“We managed to launch the Black Sea Grain Initiative and partially lifted the Russian naval blockade of our ports,” he also said, referring to the crucial agreement that Türkiye helped broker.

After attending the Arab League Summit, Zelenskyy is expected to travel to Japan’s Hiroshima where he will attend the G7 summit.​​​​​​​