Mr Zaur Smirnov: Crimean Tatars in Council of Crimean Tatar People of the President of Ukraine Must Be Represented by Persons Elected Exclusively by People

06 February 2014

Mr Zaur Smirnov, Vice Chairman of the Mejlis believes that the present composition of the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatars of the President of Ukraine in the present format did not bring and will not bring any particular benefit to the resettlement of the Crimean Tatars.

The Vice Chairman of the Mejlis stated this replying to the question of ATR Channel concerning the work of the reformatted Council of the Representatives of the Crimean Tatars of the President of Ukraine for the past year.

According to his opinion, the Crimean Tatars in the Council of the Crimean Tatar People of the President of Ukraine must be represented by persons that were elected exclusively by people.

“The President of Ukraine personally held no meeting with the full composition of this council. I think that one the reasons of this is that he believes that there will be no efficiency without the full participation of the Mejlis,”- Mr Zaur Smirnov, Vice Chairman of the Mejlis stated.

The single result of the Council’s work mentioned by the Vice of the Mejlis was allocation of only 5 millions Hryvnas from the state budget for the resettlement of the deported citizens.

“I think that those members of the Council that share the necessity of the efficient financing have to leave this council or initiate the establishment of such format existed before 2010,”- Mr Smirnov thinks.

It will be recalled that the Council of the Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People of the President of Ukraine was established in May 1999 by the Decree of the President of Ukraine Mr Kuchma as a form of legalization of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. It automatically included 33 members of the Mejlis elected by the Qurultay and chaired by the Chairman of the Mejlis. In 2010 the Decree of the President of Ukraine Mr Yanukovych changed the concept of forming of the Council of the Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People of the President of Ukraine and its composition.