Congratulations to the members of the Coordinating Board of International Association "Friends of Crimea" on being awarded with the Gasprinsky Medal state award of the Republic of Crimea

Congratulations to the members of the Coordinating Board of International Association "Friends of Crimea" on being awarded with the Gasprinsky Medal state award of the Republic of Crimea

During a solemn ceremony at the VI International Conference "Crimea in the Present International Environment," the Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov handed in the Medal of Gasprinsky to members of the Coordinating Board of International Association "Friends of the Crimea". The medals were awarded to Chairman of the Coordination Board Jan Charnagurski (Slovakia), Vice-Chairmen Konstantinos Isichos (Greece) and Stefano Valdegamberi (Italy), Board members Andreas Mauer (Germany), Ge Zhili (China), Unver Sel (Turkey) and Hendrik Weber (Norway). Due to the complicated conditions of international travel, only three of the list of awardees could receive it in person.

The head of parliament thanked the participants for creating a positive image of the Crimea abroad and development of interethnic and interfaith peace and harmony: "For the Crimeans it is important that the members of the Association will tell the truth about the peninsula in their countries in public organizations, parties and to ordinary people”.

Gasprinsky Medal is a state award of the Republic of Crimea for a significant personal contribution of a person to the cultural and spiritual development of the peoples of the Republic of Crimea, for contribution to strengthening traditional confessions in the interests of the Republic of Crimea, for special personal merits in strengthening interethnic and interfaith peace and harmony in Crimea. 

Ismail Gasprinsky was a famous Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher, and politician in the Russian Empire. He is the author of the thesis "Russian Muslimism. Gasprinsky's worldview principles and ideas were based on friendship between Slavic and Turkic peoples, confessional tolerance, and rejection of any radical demands.