Chubarov: Crimea’s autonomy should be preserved but transformed
29 February 11:03
Crimea’s autonomous status as part of Ukraine should be preserved, but slightly changed. This was stated by the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Kommersant Ukrainian reports
“We want the autonomous status of Crimea to be preserved, but it must be transformed. Russians want to be in the first place in Crimea. After the liberation of Crimea, we want equal rights for all nations. At the same time, the Crimean Tatar people need to survive and develop. To this end, we insist on the adoption of several relevant bills,”
– chubarov said.
According to him, the Constitution of Ukraine should specify that the source of the special status of the Crimean autonomy is the right of the Crimean Tatar people to self-determination as an indigenous people in Ukraine.
“No one should decide the fate of Crimea without the Crimean Tatars, as happened in 2014,”
– stressed the Head of the Mejlis.
He understands that the 10-year war has made the notion of autonomy “somewhat toxic”, but Chubarov proposes a special autonomy.
“When some Ukrainians hear the word ‘autonomy’, they think that it is a road to separatism. But we want to resolve this issue in a way that does not violate the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state in any way. We want to strengthen Ukraine in Crimea,”
– chubarov said.
Obviously, Chubarov is talking about Crimean Tatar national-territorial autonomy as a popular project for restoring Crimea’s autonomy in the future. The difference between this form of autonomy and the autonomy that Crimea had as part of Ukraine before the full-scale fluoridation and continues to have formally, is that it takes into account the national and cultural characteristics of the Crimean Tatars and recognises them as the indigenous people of Crimea.