Rain and gray - it seems that Berlin is not welcoming anyone on this day. No one except Nariman Celâl. This is the first visit of the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis to the German capital after Celâl was released from a Russian prison in the summer. 

In the evening, dozens of people are waiting for him at the Bundestag: German journalists, politicians and activists, representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, and diplomats. Dressed in a dark turtleneck and jacket, Nariman Celâl enters the lobby with a reserved smile. He is greeted by Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksiy Makeyev and members of the German party, which organized the meeting with the panel discussion with him. Among them is Ulrich Lechte, one of the prominent figures of the Free Democratic Party. It was Lechte who, a few months ago, called on his colleagues to provide Ukraine with weapons to use against Russia, and received a portion of hate not only from the aggressor country but also from his coalition colleagues. 

The oppression of freedom of speech and press in the occupied Crimea was the central topic of the meeting. Celâl has “experience” in not only three years of Russian captivity, but also many years in journalism, so there is no better speaker than him on this topic. Next to him is Victoria Savchuk, the main organizer of the event, a long-time defender of Crimeantatars in Germany. 

“My dream has come true. Nariman is free and he is here!”, - Victoria emotionally shares with everyone present.

Nariman himself begins with simple stories that Germans find hard to believe. About arrests for Ukrainian symbols and songs, the silence of the peninsula's inhabitants out of fear of the occupiers (which is propagated as loyalty), far-fetched terrorism charges, and the horrific torture of prisoners with electric shocks.

A Tagespost journalist reaches for the microphone to ask about the statistics of repression. Celâl replies:

“According to human rights organizations, only those we know about are 218 prisoners from Crimea in total, among them 132 prisoners are Crimeantatars, so more than half of the imprisoned are indigenous people!”

The politician goes on to give other figures:

“In total, 20-25 thousand Ukrainian citizens have left Crimea after 2022 due to Russian mobilization and repression, of whom about 10-15 thousand are Crimeantatars... No one will compensate us for what we could have done in Crimea under normal circumstances: first because of the occupation, and then because of the great war.”

After all the tragic stories of repression, the aforementioned Ulrich Lechte, a parliamentarian from the Free Democrats, raises the equally complex topic of European security. In his opinion, in the long run, Germany must defend the whole of Europe, including Crimea. The MP explains his position as follows: we forced Ukraine to give up its third nuclear potential in the world, then put Crimea not in the first place, and then we had the Great War and now Russia threatens the whole of Europe.

Celâl picks up on this: “We still need help - and timely help at that. If Putin succeeds, the international situation will be completely different: China will be rattling its guns at Taiwan, the situation in Kosovo and Georgia will be also tense, and so on.”

“Don't look for easy solutions, look for fair solutions!” - concludes the member of the Mejlis.

Dr Mieste Hotopp-Riecke, a well-known German Turkologist and researcher of Crimea comes to the microphone. He and Celâl are apparently old friends: they met over 20 years ago at the editorial office of the Crimeantatar newspaper Avdet in Aqmescit (Simferopol), where young Nariman worked as a journalist. The Doctor of Turkology is interested in the situation with the political bodies of the Crimeantatars: the Mejlis and the Kurultai of the Crimeantatar people. Nariman Celâl recognizes the complexity of the situation and says that the Mejlis are working in a fragmented state. According to him, only 6 members of the Mejlis work on the free territory of Ukraine. The rest are in Crimea, and it is extremely difficult for them because Russia has recognized the Mejlis as an extremist organization. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to re-elect the Parliament of Crimeans, the Kurultai. This means that the indigenous people are simply forbidden to engage in politics.

“The political and activist energy of the Crimeantatars in Crimea is transferred to the cultural space. And here we are gaining a lot,” says Celâl.

The deputy head of the Mejlis is also getting a lot from the Ukrainian government. After all, the Cabinet of Ministers has not signed a provision recognizing the Mejlis for a long time. Thus, Celâl says, the government is not fulfilling the Law of Ukraine “On Indigenous Peoples.”

“For some reason, some people in Ukraine still believe that the problem of the Mejlis is just a local issue, but we are showing that the position of the Crimeantatars will only strengthen Ukraine,” says Celâl.

After the meeting, CEMAAT correspondents had the opportunity to talk to Nariman-aga in person - in an informal atmosphere, together with other representatives of the Crimeantatar and Ukrainian diaspora. An Italian restaurant near the Bundestag was chosen for the dinner by chance, and it was also by chance that we met one of the most ardent supporters of Ukraine in German politics, CDU/CSU MP Roderich Kiesewetter. It was he who called on Chancellor Scholz to provide Ukrainians with maximum military assistance, including Tauruses. His faction colleague, Friedrich Merz, is considered the most likely next head of the German government. Kiesewetter congratulated Celâl on his dismissal. The Crimeantatar and German politicians exchanged contacts in a friendly manner and agreed to meet in the near future.

Here, in the restaurant, I managed to ask Celâl a question that is currently bothering all Crimeantatars: what should we prepare for if Crimea is left to Russia for many years?

The politician answered tiredly, but carefully:

“The tasks of the Crimeantatarss have not changed over the past few decades... We have to worry about how to preserve ourselves in different circumstances, including occupation...”

“Do not forget about the values and principles that our national movement defended and defends - in the days of Gasprinsky, Çelebicihan, and after the deportation... Nothing has changed for us, and we must move on despite all the difficult circumstances.”