David Stulik, diplomat: «Regardless of which ethnic group a person belongs to if he or she is defend

Recently, Czech Republic has become a country which officially recognised Soviet crimes against Crimean Tatar nation and recognised the 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars as an act of genocide. Corresponding Resolution on commemoration of victims of Crimean Tatar Deportation has been adopted unanimously by the Czech Senate (upper house) on December 18th, 2024. Back in 2015, Ukraine was the first country recognising these events as an act of genocide. It was then joined by parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Poland, Estonia, and now Czechia. Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in Crimea Autonomous Republic has called parliaments of other countries to recognise the 1944 Deportation as an act of genocide. «The 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars on Stalin’s orders caused a forced displacement of over 200,000 persons from Crimea to faraway regions of the Soviet Union. These events were a targeted act of elimination of indigenous people which was aimed at destruction of its ethnic, cultural, and religious identity», – officials of the Representative Office stated.

Czech Republic, being a member state of the European Union, has its own specifics and faces its own challenges in the realm of inter-ethnic relations. The country has faced a number of issues and challenges related to inter-ethnic harmony, protection of the rights of minorities, integration of foreigners, as well as mutual understanding between different ethnic groups. Ethnic policy is increasingly becoming a key tool to resolve matters of stability and development of society, by and large. Particular place in the relations between ethnic minorities and the state is occupied by the matter of how to give minorities the possibility to stand for their rights and present their positions in the government, on all levels. This is something we feel particularly clear today, during Russia’s war against Ukraine, when almost 700,000 Ukrainians have been granted asylum in Czech Republic since the full-scale invasion. There are other ethnic groups, too, residing in the Czech Republic, specifically: Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Germans, Jews, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Chinese, Vietnamese etc.  Roma people are the largest ethnic minority in Europe.

As far as the Czech Republic is concerned, during the 2011 Census, 13,150 declared Roma ethnicity; experts, however, stood by substantially larger numbers, asserting that there were over 240,000 ethnic Roma people in the country. Roma people face similar issues all across Eastern Europe: unemployment, discrimination, anti-Roma actions… In the mid-1990s, there were many restaurants, cafés and disco clubs in Czech Republic with signs  «No Gypsies allowed». The Soviet past was blocking the potential of democratic development in many countries which used to be under the Soviet occupation. For the past several decades, Czech Republic’s ethnic policy has been substantially transformed. Human rights, rights of minorities, democratic values have become integral components of the state policy both internationally and domestically—and within society, too. Svitlana Mialyk has talked to David Stulik, a Czech diplomat, Special Envoy of Czech Foreign Ministry for Eastern Partnership Matters and former spokesman of EU Representative Office in Ukraine, discussing issues in the Czech policy on ethnic minorities.

«Vaclav Havel’s political traditions stipulate that international relations should include not only geopolitical aspects but also aspects like human rights and rights of minorities»

— Mr Stulik, at the end of the previous year, a historical decision was made by the Czech Senate: Czech Republic recognised the 1944 Crimean Tatar Deportation as an act of genocide. You, too, supported this important decision, particularly as you met Mr Refat Chubarov, Speaker of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People. How was this decision made,what does it mean for the Czech society and for European society, by and large?

— It is very important and quite interesting that relations between Czech Republic and Crimean Tatars go a long way. Back when Vaclav Havel, Czech Republic’s first President, was in power, he enjoyed a personal friendship with Mr Mustafa Cemilev (first Speaker of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People – ed.). Later, top-level political contacts were maintained by the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Karel Schwarzenberg. Czechia has therefore always been in touch with the Crimean Tatar People—and was sympathetic towards it. So both us Czechs and Crimean Tatars, too—actually, Mr Cemilev personally—were protesting against the 1968 Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. Czech Republic will never forget that. So today, as the Crimean Tatar Mejlis and the Ukrainian nationwide authorities appealed to the Czech Parliament with a request to recognise the Crimean Tatar Deportation as an act of genocide, this request fell on good soil, so to say. So we realised, we understood, we knew of those crimes against Crimean Tatar People. And today, this has been reflected in the present decision of the Czech Senate. The Senate of the Czech Republic is comprised of 81 senators. Each senator is elected in his own district—that is, not as part of any political list. These are people of high moral values, pillars of their respective communities, who won in their electoral districts. Their party affiliation is not important; their personal attitude and personal stance is. This is why it has become even more apparent that the Czech Senate should recognise the tragic action of Soviet and Russian authorities as a genocide. And we are very happy that this actually happened on the 80th anniversary commemorating these deportations. A delegation from the Ukrainian Parliament and from the Crimean Tatar Mejlis had top-level political meetings with us. I am even of the fact that discussions are underway and the lower chamber of the Czech Parliament is hopefully also going to recognise this fact of deportation as a genocide. We should also recall the fact that we have become the sixth country in the world passing such a resolution. Earlier, in a similar manner, both chambers of the Czech Parliament recognised Holodomor as an act of genocide. That is, Vaclav Havel’s political tradition is in play once again, as he said that international relations should also consider such non-political aspects—aspects pertaining to human rights and rights of minorities. So, I would say that it is very much in line with the tradition of the Czech international policy and diplomacy to recognise such things from the standpoint of values, not biopolitics.

Photo: David Stulik

«Czech Republic is in the European Union where respect for human rights and rights of minorities an issue of paramount importance on the agenda. This is why we manage to integrate more and more of our fellow Roma citizens into the life of society»

— I have another question about ethnic minorities. Roma people are the largest ethnic minority in Europe and one of the largest ethnic minorities in Ukraine. Recently, during an international themed conference in Kyiv, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Ms Katarina Maternova noted that country’s attitude towards its ethnic minorities is an important indicator of Ukraine’s readiness to accede to the EU. What is your opinion on this? How does situation in EU countries differ from the situation in Ukraine? After all, I know that many Roma people live in Czech Republic. I mean, what is Czech Republic’s policy towards the Roma community?

— Well, of course, earlier we had, so to say, certain tensions between the majority and the minority, between ethnic Czechs and ethnic Roma. Today, however, even due to the fact that we are a member state of the European Union—where this respect for human rights and rights of minority is of paramount importance on the agenda—we manage to integrate more and more of our fellow Roma citizens into the life of society, as it were. We can see that there are many journalists of Roma extraction who work for public broadcasters, on Czech TV and radio. We have many successful alumni of international universities from Czech Republic who are of Roma extraction. But we do not care if they are Roma or Czech by ethnicity. The important thing is that they are citizens of this country. You could have also noticed that there are many Vietnamese in our streets. That is, Czech Republic is becoming an increasingly tolerant society, a society not based on ethnicity but on fundamentals of the civil society. And the attitude of most Czech citizens towards these ethnic minorities, too, is changing. This is also partially due to the fact that we are now an EU member.

«Czech Republic becomes an increasingly tolerant society, a society based not on ethnicity but on fundamentals of civil society—which is most important»

— Ethnic policy is one of the EU priorities. What would your advice be to representatives of the Roma community? How should one defend oneself, protect one’s rights, stand up for oneself? Perhaps it would be wise to become more proactive or join certain NGOs?

— I think that, first and foremost, we should not get separated from others. That is, we should not create, a sort of a mono...

— Perhaps you mean the so-called «invisible ghetto»? That is, to not get isolated from the society of the country you are living in? After all, certain researchers have now been asserting that Ukrainians in Poland have already created their own «invisible ghetto».

– Yes, that is correct. At the same time, one should not be abandoning one’s own culture, one’s own cultural achievements, one’s own cultural specifics, as none of the above can become universal to the citizens of this country. Each and every one has his own rich heritage, his own achievements. There is something that belongs to you, something specific to you, something others will value. At the same time, one cannot push oneself in a position whereby one is weaker, as it leads to a lot of unpleasant consequences. One should integrate as much as one can. But this is something that actually happens here, in Czech Republic. Little by little, we can observe how Roma children start not just attending their classes or schools but are becoming part of Czech classes in schools.

— What about the attitude of the Czech society towards the fact that Roma children get integrated into the European society?

— Baby steps at a time. I cannot claim that everything is perfect here. There are still some problems; there are conflicts sometimes, too. That said, people are increasingly aware of the fact that these are citizens, same as others, albeit of another ethnicity.

Photo: Svitlana Mialyk and David Stulik

«It does not matter which ethnic group or which minority a person belongs to if he or she takes up arms to defend Ukraine»

— European policy is something Ukraine should learn from. After all, Ukraine is a multi-ethnic country where over 130 ethnicities reside. But the attitude to certain minorities is sometimes so bad that these minorities are forced to constantly fight for their rights. I mean Roma people, first and foremost. Today, there are many European programmes aimed at supporting, providing a chance to develop and stop discrimination. From this standpoint, European policy is crucial for us, Ukrainians. What is your opinion about this?

— I think that there is another factor at play here. It does not matter which ethnic group or which minority a person belongs to if he or she takes up arms to defend Ukraine. I can see plenty of such examples…

Yes, a number of Roma people are Ukraine’s defenders. A number of Crimean Tatars and representatives of other ethnic communities, too.

Same pertains to Ukrainians of Polish extraction. And here, very naturally, without any assistance from any European programmes or European funding, you are reaching the same decisions as we do here.

— But due to Russia’s war...

— Yes, unfortunately. Well that is a paradox of sorts. Russian aggression has such consequences, too. A Ukrainian political nation was born—one based not on the Ukrainian ethnicity but on the values which are in place now, values the Ukrainian state is currently associated with. It all began with the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan). Dignity is a notion not tied to any ethnicity; it is a human concept shared by people of diverse origins. That is why, Ukrainian Roma can share these value and identify themselves with these values. Same pertains to Ukrainian Poles or Ukrainian Crimean Tatars. They all then become political Ukrainians. This is how I address this concept.

— Thank you, David!

Photo: author