No: 231, 7 July 2014

Mustafa Kırımoğlu, the leader of the Crimean Tatar Turks and Refat Chubarov, President of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly will pay a visit to Turkey today (7 July) upon the invitation of H.E Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. During their visit, the latest developments in Crimea will be discussed.

There is no legal and legitimate basis and no valid explanation for the prevention of Refat Chubarov, President of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly (CTNA) from accessing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea from Kherson province and for the notification by the so-called Prosecutor General of Crimea that his entry into Crimea has been banned for 5 years. This practice constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, especially of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It is conspicuous that this entry ban was put into effect on the return from the meeting of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly, organized in Kherson with the participation of Refat Chubarov, President of the CTNA and Mustafa Kırımoğlu, the leader of the Crimean Tatar Turks.

Considering the fact that Mustafa Abdulcemil Kırımoğlu, the leader of the Crimean Tatar Turks, was prevented from accessing his homeland Crimea on 3 May and that the Crimean Tatar National Assembly was threatened with closure, it appears that the democratic policy which the Crimean Tatar Turks have followed within the bounds of the law is disregarded; their achievements, obtained after long years of peaceful struggle are not respected and independent representative bodies cannot be tolerated.

We expect that this ban targeting Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu, the leader of the Crimean Tatar Turks and Refat Chubarov, President of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly will be lifted immediately and we call upon those who resort to illegitimate and unlawful pressure and methods of suppression to change their attitudes.

We have no doubt that the Crimean Tatars will overcome this extraordinary period that they have been going through, under the leadership of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly, their sole legitimate representative body, in unity and solidarity and through the legal avenues and peaceful democratic politics. In this path, Turkey will continue to stand by the Crimean Tatar Turks as it has always done.