On Sunday, November 17, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people adopted a statement confirming the natural rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people on the occupied peninsula. It also emphasizes that all agreements, decisions or actions related to the territory of Crimea, the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas, the Kerch Strait and the Syvash Bay, concluded without the participation of the Crimean Tatar people, are illegal.
With this Statement, the Mejlis confirms the inalienable natural rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, recognized and guaranteed by international law, including the right to self-determination in their historical territory – Crimea, which is an integral part of the territory of the Ukrainian state.
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people emphasized the inadmissibility of determining the status of Crimea and the adjacent maritime spaces of the Black and Azov Seas, including the Kerch Strait and Syvash, as well as establishing the regime of such spaces and resources, forms of their use and their protection, without the free, prior and informed consent of the Crimean Tatar people expressed through its representative body – the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.
"Any agreements, decisions or actions of the authorities of any state related to the territory of the Crimea temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation, including the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas, the Kerch Strait and the Syvash Bay, which restrict the rights and interests of the Crimean Tatar people – the indigenous people of Crimea, are illegal with from the moment they are accepted or committed, are not recognized and will not be recognized by the Crimean Tatar people, and the content of the agreements and arrangements concluded without the participation of the Crimean Tatar people in this area is such that it does not meet the requirements of natural, customary and contractual international law",- the statement added.
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people also addressed the President of Ukraine.
"We call on the President of Ukraine to immediately submit to the Verkhovna Rada the bills prepared by the working group of the Constitutional Commission: On Amendments to Section X of the Constitution of Ukraine Autonomous Republic of Crimea, On the Status of the Crimean Tatar People, On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine”,- the text of the statement says. .
We remind you that on June 28, 1991, the Second Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people adopted the Declaration on the national sovereignty of the Crimean Tatar people. Paragraph 1 states that Crimea is the national territory of the Crimean Tatar people, in which only they have the right to self-determination as set out in the UN Charter and other international legal acts, and any opposition to the implementation of this right is contrary to the main provisions of these acts. In addition, the restoration of the national statehood of the Crimean Tatars should guarantee the observance of the human civil and political rights of all residents of Crimea, regardless of their national and religious affiliation. Paragraph 4 states that the land and natural resources of Crimea, including its health and recreational potential, are the basis of the national wealth of the Crimean Tatar people and the source of well-being for all residents of Crimea. They cannot be used apart from the will and consent of the Crimean Tatar people. Any actions that worsen the ecological state and distort the historical landscape of Crimea, including the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas, must be stopped. The damage done to the nature and resources of Crimea must be compensated by those responsible.