On Tuesday, May 18, the day of commemoration of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian government is doing everything to protect the rights of the Crimean Tatar people in the occupied Crimea and return the peninsula.
“77 years ago, the entire Crimean Tatar population was deported from Crimea. Because of this, they lost almost 50% of their total population. 7 years ago Crimea was occupied by Russia. We are doing everything to protect the rights of the oppressed there and return the peninsula. That is why we founded the Crimean platform”,- Zelensky wrote via Twitter.
During the briefing, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Russian Federation continues to suppress the Crimean Tatar people: it prohibits the activities of the Mejlis, ousts independent media from Crimea, carries out oppression on religious grounds, deprives the Crimean Tatars of property and linguistic rights, fabricates criminal charges against them.
“We will not fold our hands, we will not stop until these crimes are stopped, until Russia leaves Crimea and after the return of Ukrainian sovereignty, all opportunities for the free development and prosperity of the Crimean Peninsula and the Crimean Tatar people are created. In particular, the work of the Crimean Platform will be devoted to this issue”,- he stressed.