The conference space features the work «Mykhailo Doroshenko and Mehmed III Geray» by artist Yurii Nikitin in the author’s technique

The conference space featured the work «Mykhailo Doroshenko and Mehmed III Geray» by artist Yurii Nikitin in the author’s technique.  The work is dedicated to the heroic page in the history of centuries of neighbourliness and interaction between the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian peoples. The Crimean Khanate was a vassal and partner of the Ottoman Empire, but in the 17th century, the Istanbul padishahs decided to turn it into an obedient province. In order to strengthen his sovereignty, Khan Mehmed III Geray needed allies. In 1624, his brother Shahin Geray entered into a defensive and military alliance with Mykhailo Doroshenko, the hetman (commander-in-chief) of the Zaporozhian Army. The Zaporozhian Cossacks led by him were in fact a military republic within Poland and wanted autonomous rights just as much as the Crimean Khanate. 

This story demonstrates the continuity and kinship of the Crimean Tatars’ and Ukrainians’ resistance to the colonialism of neighbouring great powers, and the commonality of the fates of the two peoples who eventually found themselves under Russian imperial rule. After centuries of struggle, having survived the genocidal practices of the Sürgün and the Holodomor, they finally gained their right to self-determination. In 2014, Russian colonialism encroached on it again. But the time of empires is over.

We express our gratitude to the curator of contemporary art Kostiantyn Doroshenko for the fact that the work «Mykhailo Doroshenko and Mehmed III Geray» is present in the hall today. We are grateful to Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, who donated this work from his collection.