Bortnik: Ukrainian authorities are afraid to give in to the Majlis, otherwise other national minorities will want the same
The Crimean Tatar Mejlis is trying to achieve from Ukraine a status (Crimean Tatar autonomy) that would be attractive to the Crimean Tatars who live in Crimea, which would be a tool of campaigning for returning to Ukraine and campaigning in support of the Mejlis itself. The initiative for constitutional changes proposed by the Mejlis is aimed at precisely this.
This opinion regarding the initiative for constitutional changes put forward by the leaders of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, banned in the Russian Federation, was expressed in a commentary to PolitNavigator by Kiev political scientist Ruslan Bortnik.
At the same time, according to the political scientist, the Ukrainian government fears that if the Crimean Tatars are given territorial autonomy with such a status, this will cause a domino effect. Romanians, Hungarians and other national minorities will make the same demands.
“Therefore, despite the “yes, yes” from the authorities, nothing is happening in this direction yet. Now this issue is being updated against the backdrop of the fact that the government is preparing large-scale constitutional changes. Crimean Tatars hope to line up in this process of change and introduce their own issue. Therefore, they are increasing pressure on the government.
It is difficult to say whether there will be large rallies. It is difficult to organize large rallies, since the majority of Tatars live in Crimea. But the pressure on the Ukrainian authorities will certainly continue,” the political scientist predicts.