-
Free voices of Crimea — 16 DecemberOleksiy Bessarabov: Dream of the Sea
In political prisoner cases, Russian security services often invent and fabricate “evidence” to create a realistic narrative. This time, they lucked out with a plot, as the “Sevastopol saboteurs” case involved three friends with shared histories
-
Free voices of Crimea — 19 NovemberRuslan Suleymanov: “If I Stand Aside, How Will I Look My Loved Ones in the Eye?”
The popular Crimean Tatar saying “Qırımda yaşa” [“Live in Crimea”] became a defining principle for the whole people, meaning that no matter where you are or what happens, you must return to your homeland and preserve your identity
-
Free voices of Crimea — 20 SeptemberRustem Sheikhaliev: To Build a Home and To Be Free
Suriya and the children only managed to settle in the new house in 2015. Sheikhaliev never got to enjoy it with his family. To live in his own house. To hear the laughter of his grandson, who will soon turn one in October 2024
-
Free voices of Crimea — 30 AugustMarlen (Suleyman) Asanov: My Name
On October 10, 2017, as he returned home, Asanov leaned close to his four-year-old daughter, Safiye, inhaling the familiar scent of her dark hair. He whispered, “I feel for those who have been deprived of their freedom. I want every prisoner to embrace their children and feel their scent as soon as possible”
-
Free voices of Crimea — 9 AugustRemzi Bekirov from Freedom Street
On a piece of white sheet, he drew with a black pen the wagons in which the Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea. On each of them are written the years of deportation: 1944 and 2014
-
Free voices of Crimea — 23 JulySeyran Saliyev, without whom things just won’t happen
Saliyev found himself at his first protest campaign when he was only seven months old. Things like this happen when your mother is an activist in the Crimean Tatar national movement advocating for the return of her people to their homeland
-
Free voices of Crimea — 2 JulyOsman Arifmemetov. Tama-Tama Göl Olur, or Drop by Drop—A Lake Forms
As his letters reveal, he’s also inspired by the sense of continuity in his struggle. He knows that his grandparents and parents fought for the cause in exile, and he now continues the fight side-by-side with his own generation
-
Free voices of Crimea — 24 JuneAsan Akhtem: I Want to Breathe
Late at night on September 4, 2021, the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers burst into the Akhtem family’s apartment. It was not even midnight, and Akhtem and his wife had just gone to bed. The silence was shattered by screams and footsteps as armed men in balaclavas entered the room—more than ten of them