The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his attention to protecting the rights and interests of the Crimean Tatar people, which has been under the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation for seven years in a row, chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov said.

In a statement published on Facebook on Wednesday, he said that a letter of gratitude was sent to Erdogan due to signing on April 10, 2021 of the Framework Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey on cooperation in the construction of housing for the Crimean Tatar people and other privileged categories of citizens of Ukraine.

It also indicates that the main aspirations of the Crimean Tatar people remain the soonest de-occupation of Crimea and the restoration of Ukraine's state sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula and the adjacent waters of the Black and Azov Seas.

"Accordingly, we are trying to create conditions so that tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars, in conditions of forced living outside Crimea, but within Ukraine, could not only preserve their identity, but also build up their professional and intellectual potential, which they can use for reintegration and development of the Crimea liberated from the Russian occupiers," Chubarov said.

He also said that the Mejlis highly appreciates the efforts of the Republic of Turkey, also aimed at settling the Crimean Tatars, who, due to the threat to their lives, were forced to leave the Crimea occupied by Russia and living on the mainland of Ukraine.

"We are talking about participants in the Russian-Ukrainian war, political prisoners, activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement, public figures and politicians, journalists, university professors, civil servants and others," the chairman of the Mejlis said.

At the same time, he said that the construction of housing in the ratio stipulated by the Framework Agreement (Kyiv - 100 apartments, Mykolaiv - 200 apartments, Kherson - 200 apartments) will not alleviate the severity of the housing problem in many Crimean Tatar families living in connection with leaving occupied Crimea in Kyiv, as well as other regions of Ukraine.

"The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people [...] makes an appeal, simultaneously with the implementation of this project on the construction of 500 apartments, to consider the possibility of building additional 500 apartments, concentrating them in the places of actual residence of the Crimean Tatars-forced migrants, including the city of Kyiv," Chubarov said.