Members of the Mejlis, the parliament of the Crimean Tatars, who were appointed to the Council of representatives of the Crimean Tatars of the president of Ukraine, will not participate in its work, Chairman of the Mejlis Mustafa Dzhemilev has said.
According to Dzhemilev, the Kurultai, the national congress of the Crimean Tatars, called on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to return the procedure for forming the Council of representatives of the Crimean Tatars on the principle of delegation, but not the appointment of its members by the authorities.
"In our resolution we tried as much as possible to avoid confrontation … According to the text, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars in such a composition, of course, will not participate [in its work]. This decision by the national congress can’t be changed," Dzhemilev told reporters in Simferopol on Sunday after a sitting of the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatars.
The leader of the Mejlis noted that "the Council was formed so as to introduce a representative agency [the Mejlis], which is elected by people, to the legal framework."
"But the procedure [for appointing members of the Council], which was introduced under the decree of the new president, can’t be considered as a representative agency because [its members] are appointed to this agency, and they … have no right to say anything on behalf of the Crimean Tatars," Dzhemilev said.
"That’s why the resolution includes an appeal to the president to review [the procedure for the formation of the Council], taking into account the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine, as well as international legal standards – in particular the UNO Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – which clearly states that the authorities should cooperate with indigenous people only via representative agencies legally elected by them," the leader of the Mejlis said.
He also said that delegates of the Kurultai drafted a list of candidates for deputies to the Crimean parliament which then will be submitted for approval to the Crimean organization of the People’s Rukh (Movement) of Ukraine, with which the Kurultai and the Mejlis traditionally participate in elections.
As reported, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed the decree on issues of the Council of representatives of the Crimean Tatars and reduced its staff from 33 to 19 people, 11 of whom are not members of the Mejlis, the parliament of the Crimean Tatars.
The council of representatives of the Crimean Tatars of the president of Ukraine was created under a decree of then President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma on May 18, 1999. It hasn’t been changed and consisted only of members of the Mejlis until now.
