On February, 22, 2016 The Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations has held a celebration of the UN International Mother Language Day.
H. E. Volodymyr Yelchenko, The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, had a Greeting word, after which the panelists delivered their reports:
- Yuri Shevchuk, PhD, Department of SlavicLanguages, Columbia University, Ukrainian Identity and Language in Ukraine after the EuroMaidan
- Sofika Zielyk (Ukrainian) and Marina Celander (English), Dramatic Reading, Selections from the Shistdesiatnyky (The Sixtiers) Poets of Ukraine: Vasyl Symonenko and Lina Kostenko
- Ayla Bakkalli,USA Representative of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Persecution of Mother Tongue and the Violation of Cultural Rights in Occupied Crimea
- Akhtem Esatov, President of Crimean Tatar Youth Group at the American Association of Crimean Turks, Dramatic reading
- Olesia Gordynska Ensemble, Musical Selections
- Ihor Dlaboha, International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approachesto Global Challenges& Vinculum Foundation, Moderator
