Kuleba: It’s impossible to imagine de-occupied Crimea without Crimean Tatars and Mejlis

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said this on the air of the Right to Power TV program.

The Foreign Minister noted that Ukraine's policy towards the Crimean Tatars until 2014 was unfair “and we should be frank about it.”

“The Ukrainian state now bases on the fact that both Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people are the cornerstones of the Ukrainian statehood, and this should be a fundamental principle... When we prepared the Crimean Platform, developed this format, we spoke with the Mejlis [of the Crimean Tatar People] and, of course, we will see the Mejlis representatives at the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, because it is impossible to imagine Crimea without the Crimean Tatars, without the Mejlis,” Kuleba said.

At the same time, he added that it was necessary to make every effort in order to gather the biggest possible number of participants in the Crimean Platform and achieve the most concrete result to move on further.

As reported, the Crimean Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the efficiency of the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, step up international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupying power and to achieve the de-occupation of Crimea and its return to Ukraine.

The Crimean Platform is to be launched officially at an inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021.

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