23 October 2024
Documentary The True History of Crimea was screened in Riga
On October 23, a screening of the documentary film titled “The True History of Crimea” by Ukrainian director Akim Halimov took place at the House of the Blackheads in Riga as part of the Third Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform. The event was attended by speakers of the parliaments of Ukraine and Latvia, members of the Saeima of Latvia, representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, foreign delegations, diplomats, historians, and journalists.
In their opening remarks, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Speaker of the Saeima of Latvia, Daiga Mieriņa, and the Mayor of Riga, Vilnis Kīrķis, addressed the audience.
Ruslan Stefanchuk emphasized Russia’s large-scale, targeted information campaigns against Ukraine: “Russia continues to carry out aggressive disinformation campaigns worldwide, aimed not only against Ukraine but also at erasing centuries of our nation’s culture and history. Many here understand well what I mean. Russia manipulates not only Ukrainian culture but seeks to rewrite history.”
The Speaker of the Saeima, Daiga Mieriņa, stressed the importance of defending fundamental values and principles of international law:
“The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states only teaches us how important it is to consistently stand up for fundamental values and basic principles of international law. Today, support of territorial integrity must be just as firm and high-principled as it was in the case of the Baltic states. This high-principled stance must be backed by real efforts and real actions”.
Mayor Vilnis Kīrķis welcomed the Ukrainian delegation to Riga, underscoring the significance of the film’s screening and the Third Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform:
“Yet our brothers and sisters of Ukraine are fighting for their homeland. They are defending very fundamental principles and values that define our European identity. It is an important moral duty to stand with Ukraine and support all those affected by this unjust war,” stated Vilnis Kīrķis
Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baiba Braže, reaffirmed the importance of the Crimea Platform summits, including their parliamentary dimension:
“The message is short: Crimea is Ukraine, and Crimea will be Ukraine,” stated Baiba Braže.
Following the film screening, a discussion took place with Akim Halimov, the Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva, the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Nariman Dzhelyal, and other invited participants. The discussion focused on the historical aspects of the film and the current challenges facing the Crimean Tatar people during the ongoing temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia.
Permanent Representative Tamila Tasheva emphasized the importance of implementing Ukraine’s Peace Formula, which includes the de-occupation of Crimea. Tamila Tasheva highlighted the results achieved by the Ukrainian state in developing reintegration policies, introducing cognitive de-occupation, and the importance of disseminating the true history of Crimea.
“We need to destroy all these Russian propaganda and myths near Crimea, near Ukraine, and we need to establish new different academic programs also for understanding the true history of Ukraine, not via the lens of Russian academia but via the lens of Ukraine,” Tamila Tasheva emphasized.
The film’s director, Akim Halimov, emphasized the purpose of the film in revealing Crimea’s true history, debunking Russian myths, and exposing propaganda aimed at erasing the identity of Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples.
“Recently, I had the opportunity to hold a new Russian history textbook in my hands. This textbook is for the 11th grade, and it’s the new Russian textbook. It covers the period from World War II to the present day. Hundreds of thousands of Russian teenagers are reading it, including Ukrainian teens from the occupied territories. What do you think is in this textbook? The cult of Stalin, the cult of Putin, a lot of disinformation about Ukraine. Ukraine is portrayed as something ultra-nationalist, not even as a state. And there’s a lot of information about the West. In this Russian textbook, the West is depicted as pure evil,” recalled Halimov.
The True History of Crimea is a documentary project revealing the authentic history of Crimea based on unique archival documents and testimonies of authoritative historians. The film’s creators gathered materials from archives in Türkiye, England, Sweden, and France to demonstrate that Russian governance in Crimea was never legitimate and that its colonial policies aimed to erase the culture and identity of Ukraine’s Indigenous Peoples.
Photo: Valeriia Mezentseva