The chairman of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People, people’s deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Refat Chubarov doesn’t agree with the President of Ukraine on the status of Crimea in the new Constitution. He wrote about that on his Facebook page, commenting on the Poroshenko’s statement.
“We owe the Crimean Tatar people,” the President of Ukraine said during the presentation of the draft amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of decentralization. Once again Mr.President recognized the fact that the Ukrainian state has avoided to restore the rights of the Crimean Tatar people on their own land for 23 years by these words,” Refat Chubarov said.
“But I can’t agree with the President of Ukraine that the restoration of the rights of the peninsula’s indigenous people, he said, can be achieved by granting them the right to “the national-cultural autonomy,” the Mejlis chairman added.
According to Refat Chubarov, the question of amendments to other sections of the Constitution of Ukraine, including the Section X “The Autonomous Republic of Crimea”, will be worked out at the later stages of the constitutional reform.
At the same time, Chubarov expressed the hope that while presenting the amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of decentralization in the Verkhovna Rada, the President of Ukraine in person (or through his representative) would publicly clarify his position regarding the legal status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as part of Ukraine.
“And, based on the international law, it should be formulated clearly – “The Autonomous Republic of Crimea – the national-territory entity on the basis of the implementation of the Crimean Tatar people’s inalienable right to self-determination – is an integral part of Ukraine and decided issues assigned to its competence within the powers defined by the Constitution of Ukraine,” Refat Chubarov said.
He added that he couldn’t support the proposed draft amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of decentralization “without such public clarifications”. Also Refat Chubarov said that he was going to ask his colleagues, people’s deputies of Ukraine, about the same thing.
