Dzhemilev: Russia gradually becoming big North Korea

16.03.2021 14:39

Ukrinform

Following Russia's seven-year illegal occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the imposition of Western sanctions against Russia, the country is gradually becoming a "big North Korea" for the international community.

"The Russian Federation is gradually becoming a big North Korea. Its representatives are not invited anywhere. The world has realized the reality, but, unfortunately, is not taking the necessary steps. Of course, a number of countries have ties with Russia, in particular in the gas and oil spheres, and some regimes even enjoy the support of this state ..." leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev said in a comment to the Anadolu Turkish news agency on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the attempted annexation of Crimea.

According to him, after Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea, the international community was expected to react very harshly, but that did not happen.

"I did not believe that was possible in the 21st century - another country is invading your country with its tanks and, moreover, annexing your lands to its territory. I thought they would create a puppet republic here as they had done in Georgia in 2008," said the leader of the Crimean Tatar people.

Dzhemilev reminded that Crimean Tatars stood for the integrity of Ukraine and boycotted the referendum.

"For this reason, the occupiers exerted the greatest pressure on Crimean Tatars. Today, about 120 prisoners are held in custody, 75 percent of whom are Crimean Tatars, while the total number of Crimean Tatars is only 13 percent of the peninsula's population. 95 percent of searches account for the houses of Crimean Tatars and 85-90 percent of the abducted and killed persons are the representatives of our ethnic group," Dzhemilev stressed.

According to him, the Russians realized that they would never be able to get along with the Tatars, and for this reason formed a policy of coercion to make Crimean Tatars leave the territory.

"They do not pack us into cattle cars and do not send us to Siberia as it was in 1944, because we live in the 21st century, but they follow the policy pursued after the occupation in 1783, when there was such pressure that most of our people migrated to the Ottoman lands, especially after the Crimean War. According to various estimates, between 3 and 5 million Turks of Crimean Tatar origin live in Turkey,” Dzhemilev said.

Touching upon the issue of restrictive measures against Russia, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people said that international sanctions were effective but not sufficient.