The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to attend Annual Meeting with diplomats.

13 March 2018

Today, on March 13, the annual meeting of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People with the Ambassadors of foreign states, representatives of international organizations and Ukrainian officials was held in Kyiv.

During the meeting, the further steps required from the Ukrainian state and the international community for the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea were discussed.

Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov said that the legal conditions for successful reintegration of Crimea are necessary to establish before the de-occupation of the peninsula. “Unlike a number of skeptics who think that any issues related to improving the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are advisable to discuss after the de-occupation of Crimea, on the contrary, we affirm that it is at the stage of preparation for the de-occupation of Crimea that we are obliged to create all legal conditions that will facilitate a successful reintegration of Crimea in the period following the de-occupation, and ensure its further and sustainable development as part of the Ukrainian state,” – said Chubarov.

“Moreover, literally, we affirm that it is reformatting the status of Crimea’s autonomy based on norms and principles of international law, including the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination in forms, does not violate a territorial integrity of existing states, that will giveUkraine and all of us new levers and mechanisms for the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea,” – he added.

In this regard, he explained that for this purpose, on May 2017, the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine set up a working group that hasdrafted amendments and additions to the Constitution of Ukraine on Crimea.

“Since the given text has not yet been considered by the Constitutional Commission, we refrain from disseminating it,” – said Chubarov.

At the same time, he mentioned the main provisions of the proposed changes: “The Crimean Tatar People’s right to self-determination is the source of the special status of the Crimean Autonomy. The Constitution of the Crimean Autonomy shall be adopted by the representative body of Autonomy in agreement with the Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People. The Crimean Tatar language is used in all spheres of public life along with the state language, except those spheres that will be defined separately by law. Important issues for the development of Autonomy shall be taken with the prior consent of the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar People.”

“Such principles, in our opinion, are strengthen the territorial integrity of Ukraine in Crimea and make it impossible in the future to violate the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state in any of its territories,” – noted Chubarov.

The traditional meeting is held from 2011 on the initiative of the Leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.