Emirali Ablaev was re-elected the Mufti of Crimea for the next five years. The vote was held during the sixth Kurultay of the Crimean Tatars held in Simferopol. According to Islam Today, several hundred delegates from all regions of the peninsula took part.
Emirali Ablayev delivered a report on the work done. Upon completion of the vote, the deputy Mufti Aider Ismailov said that “Emirali Ablaev was re-elected the Mufti of the Muslims of Crimea unanimously.” Ablaev has held this post since 1999.
Instead, in mainland Ukraine, Muslim migrants from Crimea claim that the re-election is illegitimate.
Thus, the Mufti of the Religious Administration of the Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ayder Rustemov, believes that the “delegates” of the Russian congress of Muslims in Crimea “did not elect, but appointed Emirali Ablaev the Mufti of the Muslims of Crimea. He told this in the interview with Krym.Realia
“In the occupied Crimea a priori there can be no choice. This is an occupied territory. People cannot freely express their will there. This entity, where the “elections” took place, is controlled by the occupation authorities and the FSB. They use it to show the world community: look, the clergy of the Crimean Tatars is with us,” Rustemov said.
According to him, the only Religious Directorate of Muslims in Crimea “is located, works and operates in mainland Ukraine, and it cannot be otherwise”.
After the peninsula was annexed in 2014, the Religious Administration of the Muslims of Crimea no longer coordinated its actions with the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars and was re-registered in accordance with Russian legislation, as the Religious Directorate of Muslims of Crimea and Sevastopol (DUMKS).
As RISU reported earlier, in November 2016, the communities of Muslim IDPs from Crimea held a congress at which they decided to establish the Religious Administration of Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in mainland Ukraine. Aider Rustemov was elected its Mufti. In October 2017, the Department of Nationalities and Religions of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine registered the Religious Administration of Muslims of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, chaired by Rustemov.