The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people sees the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea as unacceptable to the Crimean Tatars, as it does not have any rule that would guarantee the preservation and development of the Crimean Tatar people as an indigenous people on the peninsula.

A statement released by the Mejlis press service notes that the Crimean Constitution does not have any rules and provisions guaranteeing the effective participation of Crimean Tatars in the socio-political life of the republic, their representation in the Crimean State Council, as well as executive and judicial government agencies of Crimea.

According to the authors of the statement, the main law of Crimea "does not include any rules governing the status of the Crimean Tatar people as an indigenous people of Crimea, as well as the official status of the highest representative body of the Crimean Tatar people - the Qurultay - and the bodies it forms."

In this regard, the Mejlis declared the unacceptability of the Constitution of Crimea, which "has no rules guaranteeing the effective participation of Crimean Tatars in the social-political life of the country and ignores the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

Mejlis Chairman Refat Chubarov, in turn, said that the current Crimean authorities were ignoring even the traditions that exist in Russia, as the draft Constitution was not submitted for broad public discussion.

"Almost all constitutions of the republics that are part of the Russian Federation passed public discussion before adoption. People were given an opportunity to discuss such an important document, but the people who live in Crimea were actually deprived of this right," the Mejlis press service quoted Chubarov as saying.

"If we really want to develop the Crimean society, make it balanced, taking into account the interests of all residents of the peninsula, we must begin with the Constitution, rather than deception," he said.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine