Crimean Tatar leader gets Solidarity Prize
22:50
Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatar community in Crimea, will be the first recipient of the Solidarity Prize, Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski announced on Wednesday. The prize will be presented by President Bronisław Komorowski on June 3.
“Dzhemilev has been striving for democracy and civic rights in Ukraine for years, especially toward the Tatar community,” Sikorski said. He was an activist in Soviet times and continued to support his nation as part of independent Ukraine.
The Tatar leader has recently been refused entry to the Crimean peninsula, following the recent annexation of the region by Russia.
The Solidarity prize was established this year to honor people who embody the values represented by the Solidarity movement, which played a key part in Poland’s liberation from communism.
