12:12 18.03.2016

Ukrainian foreign ministry says attempt to ban Mejlis in Crimea reveals intent to oust Tatars

1 min read
Ukrainian foreign ministry says attempt to ban Mejlis in Crimea reveals intent to oust Tatars

The intention of so-called "Crimean authorities" to ban the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people in Crimea is more evidence of their intent to oust Crimean Tatars from the peninsula, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Maryana Betsa said.

"We regard the plans to ban Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea as a deliberate step by Moscow to oust Tatars from Crimea," Betsa said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

She said steps taken by occupational authorities recall the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944.

As reported earlier, prosecutors in Crimea have asked the regional supreme court to declare the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a public organization not registered in Russia, 'extremist' and to ban its activity in Russia.

"I have signed a petition to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea, asking that it declare the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People an extremist public movement and ban its operation in the Russian Federation," Crimean prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya said.

The prosecutor invoked Article 9 of the Federal Law "On countering extremism."

She said she handed a copy of the lawsuit to Mejlis deputy chairman Nariman Dzhelalov.

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