You're reading: Turkey calls on world community to help to defend rights of Crimean Tatars

Simferopol - The Foreign Ministry of Turkey has condemned the actions of the Crimean authorities taken against the Crimean Tatar People on the peninsula, and has urged the international community to take measures to defend their rights.

“We condemn the raids, in which armed officials were reportedly involved, against the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (MCTP) building, the legitimate representative body of the Crimean Tatar community living in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC), the indigenous people of the peninsula, as well as the houses of some members of the MCTP on Sept. 16, 2014,” reads a statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry posted on its Web site.

“Such actions – aimed at intimidating the Crimean Tatar people, who stand up for their democratic rights through peaceful means – by exerting pressure on the MCTP, are unacceptable. We are confident that the international community will not remain silent against such attempts aimed at adding new chapters to the painful history of the Crimean Tatar people,” reads the document quoted by QHA agency (Crimean News agency).

It said that Turkey would continue to closely follow the developments in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and especially all measures targeting the Crimean Tatar people in particular.

As reported, the accommodation of some Mejlis members was searched on Sept. 16. As a result, computers and books were confiscated for examination. On the same day, employees of the Russian police and Federal Security Service searched the Mejlis office.

Russian law enforcers searched the office of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars for 11 hours, finishing late on Tuesday, according to Riza Shevkiev, a Mejlis member and the director general of the Crimea Foundation charitable organization.

“Documents, computers as well as the personal belongings and money of Mustafa Jemilev (Cemilev), the MP and former Chairman of the Mejlis, were confiscated,” Shevkiev said, speaking to the Crimea.Realities Internet publication.

Shevkiev said that the protocols of some Mejlis meetings, five or six religious books, Jemilev’s personal belongings, which were taken from his personal safe by breaking into it, had been confiscated during the search. Some of Jemilev’s money and a traumatic handgun were confiscated from the safe. Computer hard drives were also confiscated during the search.