by M. Bilal Kenasari
After armed men seized control of two government buildings in Crimean capital, Simferopol on Thursday, a new pro-Russian leader was instated, a move which was immediately rejected by the minority Muslim Crimea Tatars on the basis that it violates the Ukranian constitution.
Crimean Tartars, who make up 13 percent of the Crimea population, are also against a decision voted on by the Parliament on Thursday, to hold a referendum on May 25 to decide the future of Crimea's status. They argue that the decision was made under duress, when the armed and masked men surrounded the parliament and forced the decision, which will benefit the Russian majority. The vote was supported by 61 out of 64 MPs in the parliament.
A Crimean Tatar who lives in Turkey and is president of a foundation representing Tartars in Turkey, Zafer Karatay, says that the proposed constitution violates the rights of Tartars, is against international law and the Ukraine constitution.
"Everyone kept away from the parliament building, and Konstantinov forced MPs to vote for the favor of referendum." Karatay said.
Crimean citizens will be asked to decide on May 25th whether to be part of a Ukraine or not.
Karatay also added that on Friday Crimean Tatars across the Crimea will meet in their mosques after Friday prayers to discuss what can be done to "protect our people’s rights”.
Another Tatar cultrual organisation based in Ankara, the Cyremia Foundation issued a press release condemning the forcible entering of parliament, calling it a "terrorist act".
The 280,000 Crimean Tatars living in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea constitute close to 13 percent of the total population, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.
Following decades of repopulation by the Soviet Union, the Crimean population today is overwhelmingly dominated by ethnic Russians, according to the last official census.
One of the most blatant examples of this demographic engineering was when virtually the entire population of Crimean Tatars was forcibly exiled to Central Asia by Stalin's Soviet government in 1944.
Approximately half of them died from hunger and disease in the early years of the deportation.
Germany, France and Poland express concern over Crimea
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland expressed deep concern Friday over growing tensions in Crimea and reaffirmed their commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity.
“We are deeply concerned about the tensions on the Crimean peninsula,” three foreign ministers said in a joint statement released by the German Foreign Ministry.
“Every effort should be made to reduce tensions in the eastern regions of the country and to promote peaceful dialogue among all actors involved. We reaffirm our support for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We call on all actors in the Ukraine to refrain from actions that could jeopardize these.”
Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier, France’s Fabius Laurent and Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski carried out marathon talks in Kiev last week with then president Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition, in an attempt to stop deadly clashes and launch a political transition process.
“The transitional government now faces the enormous challenge of improving the living standards of Ukrainian citizens. This can only be achieved through the implementation of reforms for transition and modernization, in particular reforms for fighting corruption and ensuring democratic values," the three foreign ministers added.
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