Dzhemilev quietly demands that Ukraine recognize Crimea as “originally Tatar land”
Kyiv, August 10 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov) – Mustafa Dzhemilev, who remains in the status of a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, continues to promote the idea of adopting a special law that will determine the status of the Crimean Tatars as the “indigenous people” of the peninsula.
It seems that this is connected with far-reaching plans - if, with the support of the West, Crimea is taken from Russia, the Majlis will have reason to demand the “rebirth of statehood.”
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“To this day, the law defining which peoples are indigenous, national minorities, and what scope of rights these groups have, has not yet been determined,” Dzhemilev complained at a press conference in Kyiv.
“You know the dramatic history of the Crimean Tatar people. In 1921, after the Bolshevik revolution, autonomous republics were created throughout the USSR, based on the fact that indigenous peoples lived in these territories. Accordingly, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created. And the reason for the creation of an autonomous republic there was precisely the presence of an indigenous people there - the Crimean Tatars. And the state languages - that’s what they were called then - of this republic were the Russian language, since Crimea was part of the Russian Federation, and the Crimean Tatar language.
After the deportation of the Crimean people and several other ethnic groups from the territory of Crimea, it was quite logical that this republic was liquidated, and Crimea was turned into an ordinary region of the Russian Federation. And in 1954, as you know, it was transferred to Ukraine.
We have been striving for the restoration of the national territorial autonomy of Crimea for many years. But our appeals and demands were not heard. In 1991, a so-called referendum was held to determine the status of Crimea, in which the Crimean Tatars practically did not participate. We stated then that the status of our homeland - Crimea - cannot be determined by immigrants from other regions, the internal regions of Russia. And until the process of returning the Crimean people to their historical homeland is completed, holding this referendum is illegal. However, this was not heard by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Then they adopted a law on the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Republic. And, what is most interesting, one of the arguments in favor of creating such an autonomy were the speeches of the Crimean regional council that it was necessary to create this republic, because citizens of Russian nationality live there very compactly and in a much larger percentage than other ethnic groups. Those. Instead of a national territorial republic of the indigenous people, a Russian autonomous republic was essentially created. Accordingly, the rights of neither the Crimean Tatar people nor those ethnic groups who lived there were respected. For many years, we have had futile attempts to pass a number of legislative acts that would regulate the restoration of the rights of indigenous people and the rights of other ethnic groups. But until the dramatic events that took place in Crimea this year, nothing was accepted by our state.
Finally, after the occupation, on March 17, a bill was submitted by MP Poroshenko, now president, who spoke about guaranteeing the rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people on their territory in Crimea. And this resolution was supported by almost all deputies; out of 309 deputies present at the session, 289 voted in favor. Even the communists voted out of fright. But this was already somewhat late. If this law, which consolidates the rights of the indigenous people, had been adopted in a timely manner, then our struggle to restore our rights would at least have been greatly facilitated. And perhaps it would have been possible to avoid some rather serious conflicts on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
I'll give you an example. There is an article in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that states that without the firmly expressed consent of the indigenous people, no wars or military bases can be located on their territory. Of course, I don’t think that the country that occupied our territory would respect this declaration. But, nevertheless, this was one of the sharp arguments for the liberation of our territory. In short, the resolution on the rights of indigenous peoples as a regulatory document opens the way for the adoption of other legislative acts. In particular, the law on the rights of indigenous peoples,” the Mejlis member continued his thoughts.
Dzhemilev quietly demands that Ukraine recognize Crimea as "original Tatar land."