Indigenous Crimean Tatar People reject claims of Crimea being part of Russia, call on international community to show solidarity with Ukrainian people struggling for freedom, independence and the right to determine their future freely

… Indigenous Crimean Tatar people of Ukraine say the only legitimate way to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and establish a guaranteed and just peace in the region is the de-occupation of Crimea and other occupied territories of Ukraine and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders:

The temporarily occupied territory of the Crimean Peninsula as Russian, by whomever and for whatever purpose, will mean:

• a gross violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the Helsinki Final Act, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, numerous resolutions of the UN General Assembly, and other fundamental norms of international law;
• an attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a sovereign independent state with clearly defined internationally recognized borders, including Crimea and all other temporarily occupied territories;
• contempt and ignoring the inalienable rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, including the right to self-determination and participation in all decision-making processes concerning their native land;
• justification of all crimes committed against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people during the years of colonial enslavement of Crimea by the Russian Empire;
• denial of the act of genocide against the Crimean Tatar people committed by the Soviet regime in 1944;
• encouraging the policy of ethnocide of the Crimean Tatar people, which is being carried out today by the bodies of the Russian occupation authorities, starting from the first day of the temporary occupation of Crimea in 2014, in the form of systemic pressure on the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and repressions against the inhabitants of Crimea – citizens of Ukraine, ethnically and politically motivated persecution of Crimean Tatars, banning the representative body of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people – the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, religious persecution, Russification and assimilation, destruction of cultural heritage, mass relocation of Russian citizens to the territory of Crimea to change the demographic and ethnic composition of the population of the Crimean peninsula;
• creating a precedent of impunity for the aggressor, when his violation of the internationally recognized borders of a sovereign state and the subsequent legitimization by other countries of the territories occupied by the aggressor will undermine the system of collective security built after World War II and which is based on the principles of peaceful coexistence, sovereign equality and inviolability of state borders, respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms. Such disregard for the norms of international law will send a bad signal to states whose ruling regimes may also resort to the use of force and occupation of the territories of other states, hoping for their further legitimization.