“Grey Wolves” in Khersonshyna: Does Stopfake cover Islamists? 

Stopfake.org that is funded, among others, by the British and Czech Embassies in Ukraine, has cast a doubt on the facts brought by Ian Matushevsky in his article “Islamic Committee” in Henichesk: Ukraine turning into geopolitical testing area” that was published by EADaily on January 18 2016.

In particular, Stopfake claims that Islamists representing radical movements from the Middle East and Asia did not participate in the meeting of the so-called “Executive Committee of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars” that has convened in Henichesk (Kherson region, Ukraine) on January 16-20.  The website claims that Head of the so-called “Mejlis of the Crimean-Tatar People” Mustafa Cemilev did not speak about possible involvement of Islamists as part of the “Muslim Battalion” of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the conflict against Russia. Yet Cemilev had previously announced the establishment of such battalion and even named the nations representatives of which can join it.

“Now, a decision was adopted to set up a Muslim Battalion that will be subordinate to the Defense Ministry of Ukraine and will be deployed mainly in the Kherson region bordering with Crimea,” he said at “The Second World Congress of Crimean Tatars in Ankara.” Cemilev said “rather a big number” of Chechens, the Ingush, Azerbaijanis, and Uzbeks have expressed desire to join it.

EADaily’s sources say the author quoted the statement that Cemilev made at the meeting held behind the closed doors in Henichesk accurately and correctly. It is noteworthy that the core of Cemilev’s statement fully coincides with the goals, tasks and possible staff of the “Muslim Battalion” he mentioned earlier in Ankara.

As for the participants in the meeting in Henichesk, EADaily’s sources have verified the names and surnames of some of the participants who were not mentioned in the press releases by the event organizers. According to a reliable source, the names of the most odious participants of the given “Islamic Committee” were not published deliberately to avoid publicity and criticism by the healthy minds of the Ukrainian society.

Meantime, the following persons were in Henichesk on January 16-18: Mükremin Dernek (a member of “Grey Wolves” – “Boz Gurd” Turkish nationalist organization and active lobbyist of the Crimean-Tatar nationalists in Ankara), Allah Daud Baryalai (Afghanistan), Abu Omar Khoy (Saudi Arabia), Khayrulla Khalil (Afghanistan) and others. Who are these people and what were they doing in the Kherson region, Ukraine? It turned out after the meeting in Henichesk that Mükremin Dernek met with Kherson Mayor Alexander Tulupov and agreed on construction of alleged “cultural center of the Tatars.” In fact, he received 20ha of land for construction barrack-type buildings, perhaps, to deploy the fighters of the given “Muslim battalion.”  Turkey will fund the construction.

In a special commentary on the Stopfake’s fabrications, Ian Matushevskiy spotlights the fact that the given resource pursues goals different from the one it declares. “They try to conceal the news reports unfavorable to the Kiev Junta. Actually, they support fakes instead of fighting for the truth.” “In Kiev they are even kidding that if Stopfake casts a doubt on something, it means that it is absolute truth,” Matushevskiy said.

It should be added that after the scandalous incident in Henichesk where the owner of the hotel hosting the forum of the Tatar nationalists was beaten up, all the previous reports on the event were removed from social media.