Crimean Tatar leader suggests updating status of Crimea in Ukraine’s Constitution
Refat Chubarov, Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people (Photo:Oleksandr Medvedev / НВ)
The constitutional status of Crimea should be updated to enshrine the rights of indigenous Crimean Tatars, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov, said on Oct. 24.
Speaking at the first Crimean Platform parliamentary summit in Zagreb, Croatia, Chubarov noted that according to the Constitution of Ukraine, Crimea is an autonomous region, but the status of the peninsula needs to be updated.
He added that the source of Crimean autonomy is the inalienable right of the indigenous people of Crimea to self-determination – within independent Ukraine.
“We should amend the Constitution of Ukraine to clearly define Crimean autonomy as an autonomy created on national and territorial grounds, as a form of self-determination of the indigenous people of Crimea – the Crimean Tatars,” Chubarov said.
The Mejlis leader also noted that it would be necessary to consider the issue of decolonization, as hundreds of thousands of Russians have illegally settled on the peninsula.
“Moscow realizes that sooner or later they will leave Crimea, but they’re doing everything to preserve their influence there even after leaving the peninsula,” he said.
The head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Sept. 30 that Ukraine’s army could start to liberate Russia-occupied Crimea by the end of spring 2023.
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