Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea Georgy Muradov spoke about how annexation to Russia affected the lives of Crimeans, including Crimean Tatars at the V meeting of the Group of Strategic Vision "Russia – Islamic world" in Ufa.
According to him, with annexation to the Russian Federation, many suggestions, of the Crimean Tatars, which were remaining unanswered for the previous decades, were implemented.
In particular, the Crimean Tatar language was recognized as the state language on a par with Russian and Ukrainian. The system of education in the Crimean Tatar language was built from preschool education to the Crimean Tatar University. Mass media in the Crimean Tatar language began to develop actively.
"Crimean Tatars received all the rights they demanded-in the legalization of mosques, Islamic shrines, which are about 400 in the Republic. The construction of the Cathedral mosque in Simferopol is almost completed. Its opening is to take place in 2020. The number of citizens going to Hajj has increased 20 times, and Muslim holidays, such as Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, have become official. Remarkably that representatives of other faiths also celebrate these holidays, meanwhile, Muslims in the Crimea are only 15% of the total population," Muradov said, in particular.
In addition, according to him, the governing body of the Crimean Tatars Shura was recreated and is legally enshrined and recognized by the authorities of the Crimea.
"The West says that the rights of Crimean Tatars are violated. Who does it? Yesterday and today, the UN in Geneva hosts a forum of national minorities. The organizers refused to register the leaders of the Crimean Tatars, who wanted to tell the truth about life in Russia. This is a direct violation of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people. In addition, Crimeans are not allowed to visit their relatives living in the EU and the United States. It is also a flagrant violation of international law," Georgy Muradov said.
In the near future, as the politician noted, the United States and Ukraine are preparing to adopt the UN resolution on the "occupation of Crimea by Russia", forgetting that Crimea annexed to the Russian Federation through the most democratic way – a referendum, the possibility of which is spelled out in the Constitution of both Crimea and Ukraine.
Russia, as the expert stressed, lives in peace and harmony with all its peoples.
"135 years ago a Crimean Tatar educator Ismail Gasprinsky wrote that the largest nation of Russia – Russians - is gifted with a rare and happy quality-to live in peace with other nations. Envy and ill-will towards foreigners are not in the nature of a Russian, and this is the key to the greatness and tranquility of Russia, " he said.
The topic of this year's meeting of the GSV, chaired by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, is " Interfaith harmony: the experience of Russia and member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)".
The event is timed to the 50th anniversary of the Organization, as well as to the 90th anniversary of the outstanding Russian political and public figure, one of the founders of the GSV "Russia – Islamic world" - Yevgeny Primakov.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"