The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has sharply criticized Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski for his recent statement on the possibility of transferring Crimea to a UN mandate for a referendum. Crimean Tatars consider this proposal “unacceptable and cynical,” noting that it does not meet the interests of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatars.
This is stated in the statement of the Presidium of the Mejlis regarding the statements of the Polish Foreign Minister, which was published by the Chairman of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov.
According to the Mejlis, Radoslav Sikorsky actually publicly suggested that in order to end Russia's war against Ukraine, our state should cede Crimea.
In particular, he proposes transferring the Crimean peninsula "under a UN mandate with a mission to prepare a fair referendum after verifying who are the legal residents.".
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People considers such statements "unacceptable and cynical," as well as "that do not correspond to either the national interests of Ukraine or the rights and interests of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people of Ukraine.".
"According to the national legislation of Ukraine and international law, the "legal residents" of Crimea are exclusively citizens of Ukraine and persons who have legally formalized their permanent or temporary stay on Ukrainian territory, which is confirmed in the manner established by Ukrainian legislation. Therefore, any other attempts to establish the legality of a person's residence in Ukrainian Crimea are unnecessary and inappropriate," the document states.
The Mejlis expressed confidence that any proposals to resolve the issue of ending Russia's war against Ukraine, achieving peace in Ukraine, restoring its territorial integrity, and restoring the violated rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories should be based on the national legislation of Ukraine and international law.
"Crimea is a temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and the first step towards establishing peace should be the withdrawal of Russian occupation troops from the territory of the peninsula. Discussion of any issues of the future of Crimea should take place only with the participation and consent of the Ukrainian state and the indigenous Crimean Tatar people," the statement emphasizes.
The Center for Investigative Journalism recalls that on September 18, 2024, during a discussion at the 20th annual YES meeting in Kyiv, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, expressing his personal opinion, noted that Crimea plays a crucial role in the issue of possible peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. In his opinion, that is why one of the options for resolving the issue of the peninsula could be its transfer to a UN mandate.
"If both countries want to, a solution could be found here. We could hand it over to the UN mandate with a mission to prepare a fair referendum after verifying who are the legal residents and so on... And we could postpone it for 20 years," Sikorsky said.
