On 6 December 2025, our dear friend and colleague Ayder Seitosmanov passed away.
Like many of his compatriots, he was born in exile. He went on to become a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a distinguished public figure, a devoted mentor of a new generation of leaders, and a loving husband and father. Throughout his life, he served his people and Ukraine. Ayder combined resolve in action with an exceptional gentleness towards those close to him. Always responsible and ready for new challenges, he never refused anyone who needed support and took on tasks that others considered too difficult.

For Ayder, work was above all an act of service to Crimea — the homeland he carried in his heart throughout his life. He lived with the unassuming inner discipline of a statesman: for such people, time is measured by duties fulfilled and by what they manage to accomplish for others and for their country. Even in his final days, he thought not of himself, but of the tasks still to be completed and the people he had promised to support. He lived with dignity and responsibility — and he completed his path in the same way.

Ayder Seitosmanov (1964–2025) was an eminent Crimean Tatar public leader, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, and an unwavering defender of Ukraine’s freedom and dignity.

Trained as an IT engineer and later as a specialist in public administration, he combined deep technical expertise with a steadfast commitment to community development and respect for human dignity. For many years, Ayder worked with international partners, leading large-scale development programmes in Crimea with exemplary professionalism and integrity. As part of the decentralisation reform, he collaborated with numerous communities and helped strengthen the All-Ukrainian Association of United Territorial Communities, which became an important voice of local self-government. These efforts helped lay the foundation for implementing the reform across the country.

Ayder was deeply respected for his ability to build trust in diverse, multicultural communities and for his consistent dedication to the principles of democracy and good governance. As a trainer, mentor, and author of numerous works on democratic governance, he helped shape a new generation of local leaders. His dedication, moral clarity, and quiet inner strength made him a person whose influence extended far beyond any official position. His legacy lives on in the institutions he helped strengthen and in the many people whose professional and personal journeys he supported.

Ayder left behind his family — his wife and four children — whom he deeply loved and of whom he was profoundly proud. Our thoughts and condolences are with them now.
He will remain with us — in our memory, in his family, in the work he accomplished, and in the dreams he did not have time to fulfil. We will do everything we can to honour him.

For the team of the Polaris Programme and SALAR International, it was a true honour to work alongside Ayder to strengthen local self-government and support community development in Ukraine. These are our words of remembrance from people for whom he was both a colleague and a friend.

Photo: from the personal archive of Zarema Aitestomanova; Facebook post by Refat Chubarov.