No: 36, 28 January 2015

We consider the search carried out by the security forces and lasted for a period as long as seven hours on the headquarters of the ATR Crimean Tatar Television Channel located in Akmescit (Simferopol) in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC) on 26 January 2015 and the confiscation of the technical equipment of ATR as a serious intrusion on and violation of the freedom of press that are in no way acceptable.

It is a fundamental right in terms of the freedom of receiving information of our Tatar kinsmen who are the indigenous people of Crimea that the ATR, the only television channel broadcasting to the Tatar people in Crimea, continues its transmissions freely without being subjected to suppression and intimidation.

Turkey will continue to defend on all platforms the rights of our Crimean Tatar kinsmen, who always expressed their views through democratic means, and to closely watch their situations.