World Bulletin / News Desk

Officers from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) are examining Crimean bookshops and seizing some black-listed books. Among them is a book of Crimean historian Gulnara Bekirova about Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Jemilev.

“Mustafa Jemilev: Crimean Tatar voice not heard for decades”, issued in 2014, is being confiscated by the authorities, the head of Crimean Tatar Mejlis (Parliament) Refat Chubarov wrote on Facebook.

“The book narrates the social, human rights and political activity of the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Jemilev. The book includes materials about law proceedings devoted to the Crimean Tatar national movement and memoirs of prominent human rights activists such as P. Grigorenko, A. Sakharov about Mustafa Jemilev,” Chubarov said.

According to Chubarov, the book also includes interviews with Jemilev that were released after the return of the Crimean Tatars to their historical homeland as well as his speeches from the Ukrainian Parliament tribune, Kiev's Euromaidan and the closing session of the UN Security Council on March 31, 2014.

CRIMEAN TATARS 'TARGETED'

Since the annexation in March, around 3,000 Crimean Tatars have left the peninsula for mainland Ukraine.

The U.N. has also pointed to the erosion of human rights in Crimea, which remains under the occupation of pro-Russian militias who particularly threaten the Crimean Tatars.

Crimean Tatars have complained that they have been targeted for speaking their Turkic language in public and have had their homes marked by pro-Russian militiamen.

The Crimean Tatar Mejlis (Parliament) was also threatened with closure after they organized protests for former Mejlis head Mustafa Jemilev, who has been barred from entering the peninsula for five years along with current leader Refat Chubarov.

Earlier this month, Qirim News Agency general coordinator Ismet Yuksel was also given the same five-year ban.

The Crimean Tatars have largely opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia, fearing a repeat of the events of 1944 when they were completely expelled as part of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's policy.

They gradually started returning in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, but still live as a minority in their homeland as they were displaced by ethnic Russian settlers who migrated there later on.

Since the annexation, Russia has been granting Russian citizenship to the people of Crimea in replacement of their Ukrainian nationality. Crimean Tatars, who have campaigned to reject Russian citizenship, reserve the right to remain as Ukrainian citizens, but will by default become foreigners in their homeland.