İlmi Rustem oğlu Ümerov (; ; born 3 August 1957) is a Ukrainian Crimean Tatar politician currently serving as deputy leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People since 2015. He previously served as Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea from 2002 to 2005, head of the Bakhchysarai Municipal State Administration from 2005 to 2014, and as Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea from 1994 to 1997. Early life and career İlmi Rustem oğlu Ümerov was born on 3 August 1957 at the state farm of Akhunbabayev, located in the Toshloq District of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. In 1980, he graduated from the Andijan State Medical Institute specialising in medical business. For the next eight years he worked in medicine; from 1980 to 1981 at the Fergana Maternity Hospital, from 1981 to 1984 as an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Margilan Hospital, from 1984 to 1986 as an anaesthesiologist at the Margilan Silk Plant medical unit, and from 1986 to 1988 as an anaesthesiologist in the Central District Hospital in Krymsk. In 1988, Ümerov moved to the city of Bakhchysarai, his family's hometown before the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars. In Bakhchysarai, he worked as an engineer at the Dostluk cooperative from 1990 to 1992 before becoming director of Elmaz VAT, a position he held until 1994. Political career In 1989, Ümerov became a founding member of the OKND, a Crimean Tatar dissident movement. Two years later, he joined the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. From 1991 to 1994, he was Chairman of the Bakhchysarai Regional Mejlis. In 1994, he was elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, but he left office in October of the same year to become Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea. He served in this position until 1997. Afterwards, he returned to leading the Bakhchysarai Regional Mejlis, serving from 1998 to 2002. At the same time, he served as deputy of the Bakhchysarai Municipal State Administration from 2000 to 2002. In 2002, Ümerov became Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, a position he held until 2005. In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, he was head of Viktor Yushchenko's campaign in Ukraine's 10th electoral district. Shortly before leaving the position of Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, he became head of the Bakhchysarai Municipal State Administration. Annexation of Crimea by Russia Amidst