The task of the occupiers is to destroy the identity of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people — Chubarov on the Crimean platform

24 October 2023

As of now, at least 189 citizens of Ukraine are deprived of their liberty in the occupied Crimea on fabricated and politically motivated cases, of which 123 are Crimean Tatars. The task of the occupiers is the destruction of the identity of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and their final displacement outside the borders of Crimea.

This was announced by the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, during the Crimean Platform’s second parliamentary summit.

“The task of the Russian occupiers is the destruction of the identity of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and their final displacement outside the borders of Crimea. In order to achieve this goal as soon as possible, along with the repression and persecution of the Crimean Tatar people, the Russian Federation hastily populates Crimea with its own citizens. There are already more than a million such colonists in Crimea,” he said.

According to Chubarov, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea in order to complete the destruction of the Crimean Tatar people, which had not been completed by Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime.

“Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation today is a place of violent abductions and disappearances, politically motivated persecution and imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment, as well as encroachments on other basic freedoms and human rights,” he added.

Chubarov emphasized that the position of the Mejlis is that all foreigners or stateless persons who have settled in Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories have deliberately committed a crime, “like marauders, they have come to collect stolen goods”, so they should immediately leave the occupied territories.

“The Crimean peninsula is an integral part of Ukraine, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Aqyar created on its territory are subject to transformation into national-territorial autonomy, which will exercise the powers specified by the Constitution of Ukraine,” he said.

As the head of the Mejlis specified, national-territorial autonomy will ensure:

• inviolability of the territorial integrity of Ukraine;
• realization of the right to self-determination by the indigenous Crimean Tatar people;
• equal rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen;
• sustainable development of Crimea.