Crimean Tatars’ rights to be reinstated in case of Crimea’s annexation – Naryshkin

(Interfax -MOSCOW. March 12, 2014) The State Duma will confirm the guarantees of restoring the rights for the Crimean Tatar people in the event of Crimea’s reunification with Russia, lower house chairman Sergei Naryshkin said.

“I would like to reassure them that in the event that the Crimean population decides during a free democratic referendum on Crimea’s annexation to Russia – (if) this historical event, Crimea’s reunification with Russia, happens, then State Duma deputies, Russian parliamentarians will support and confirm guarantees for the Crimean Tatar people,” Naryshkin told reporters on Wednesday.

On March 11 the Crimean Supreme Council passed a decree titled, “On the guarantees of restoring the rights of the Crimean Tatar people and its integration into the Crimean community.”

“Currently, historical events are taking place in Crimea, and it is vital for all the people of the republic and representatives of all the ethnicities inhabiting the peninsula, including the Crimean Tatar people, to take part in self-determination procedures,” Naryshkin said.

“Quite a few hardships have befallen the Crimean Tatars, and today the opportunities are emerging to ensure both inter-ethnic peace and accord, the implementation of economic, social, and political rights of the Crimean Tatars in a truly democratic way, on a par with the other peoples of Crimea,” the speaker said.

State Duma deputies welcome the decree passed by the Crimean parliament a day earlier, he said. “This document contains such important guarantees as granting an official status to the Crimean Tatar language along with Russian and Ukrainian; worthy representation in the executive and legislative branches of power of every level; and drafting, approving and implementing annual and five-year plans to help Crimean Tatars returning to the Crimean peninsula settle in,” the speaker said.

For the first time in the 70 years a document has been passed containing such serious commitments to the Crimean Tatar people, Naryshkin said.