Crimean Tatar online dictation was held to support the language and call attention to political prisoners of Kremlin

In 1999, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed International Mother Language Day (February 21). The sixth annual Crimean Tatar online dictation was held last week. This was announced by the Head of the National Corpus of the Crimean Tatar Language, Refat Chubarov.

“Every year on February 21, Crimean Tatar people, scattered against their will around the world, take part in the Crimean Tatar online dictation. It is an action of unity in support of the native language, as well as a demonstration of support for the Crimean political prisoners and all people in Crimea who preserve their honor, dignity, and loyalty to their native land,” Refat Chubarov wrote.

The text of the dictation was written by Asan Akhtemov, Crimean Tatar political prisoner, journalist, and member of the public initiative Nefes [“breath”] dedicated to sharing information about the past and present of the Crimean Tatars. Akhtemov is currently illegally imprisoned by Russia in Crimea.

The reading of the dictation was organized by Nefes.

“Since 2022, the organizers of the event have dedicated the annual Crimean Tatar online dictation to the members of the Nefes team: Nariman Dzhelial, the First Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar People’s Mejlis, and public activists Asan Akhtemov and Aziz Akhtemov. They were illegally arrested in Crimea in September 2021 and sentenced to 17, 15, and 13 years in a strict regime colony respectively. The event calls attention to the courage of all Crimean Tatar political prisoners,” the Chairman of the Mejlis emphasized. He added that the preservation of the Crimean Tatar language depends on everyone.

The dictation was read on February 21 at 6 p.m. Kyiv time on the Nefes YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Listeners were invited to handwrite the dictation in Latin or Cyrillic script and submit their texts to the Nefes email address, [email protected], until 7 p.m. on February 22. On February 23, the text of the dictation was published on social networks.

As reported earlier, a Crimean Tatar publishing house Kitap Qalesi [“book fortress”] was established in Ukraine in 2023. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People initiated the implementation of the Day of the Crimean Tatar Language and Literature in Ukraine.

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Main photo: Borys Korpusenko

Translation: Kateryna Liushyn

Editing: Tanya Mykhaylychenko