Ekaterina Vinnik on Vesti.FM: Crimean Tatar issue is settled in Ukraine

The liquidation of the Commissioner for Crimean Tatar People office can be explained by the fact that the Crimean Tatar agenda artificially supported by the administration of ex-President Petro Poroshenko is no more relevant, an analyst of the Vestnik Kavkaza news agency, Ekaterina Vinnik said in the National Question program on Vesti.FM

“Against the backdrop of a political scandal around Ukraine and the United States, the administration of Vladimir Zelensky simply does not have an opportunity to pay any attention to the issue of the Crimean Tatars, especially, since there are no problems of the Crimean Tatar people in Ukraine,” she said.

Ekaterina Vinnik recalled that the liquidated office of the Commissioner for Crimean Tatar People initially announced the emigration from Crimea was about 10 thousand Crimean Tatars - 3% of the peninsula’s Crimean Tatar population. At the same time, in several years, about half of these migrants returned to Crimea.

“Thus, only a small part of Crimean Tatars lives in Ukraine - the former Crimean Tatar elite who fled of their own will to Ukraine. They still are trying in every possible way to attract the attention of the international community, claiming Russia’s oppression and historical rights to the Crimean peninsula,” the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza explained.

“Most Crimean Tatars living on the peninsula are satisfied with their lives. This was confirmed by the head of the regional national-cultural autonomy of the Crimean Tatars Eyvaz Umerov, saying that the Crimean Tatars do not need the creation of any Ukrainian autonomy, so it is time for President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Russian peninsula, ” Ekaterina Vinnik said coming to conclusion that Zelensky heeded that call, because for his team the Crimean Tatar question does not matter.

“During the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, the situation was different. The newly elected president desperately needed the support that he found, including in the person of former Crimean Tatar leaders, who left their people at a turning point in history. He promised them to amend the Constitution of Ukraine and create the Crimean Tatar autonomy. Eventually, there were no amendments to the Constitution, and in order to calm the dissatisfied Crimean Tatar elite, the office of the Commissioner for Crimean Tatar People was created, ” she recalled, adding that the powers of the structure had not been determined.

“Under Zelensky, the so-called Crimean Tatar issue has lost its relevance, so the situation has not changed for the better for Crimean Tatar leaders living in the country. Although Zelensky traveled with them to Turkey and promised to return Crimea, it is obvious that this topic is by no means the main one as evidenced by the liquidation of the Commissioner for the Crimean Tatar People office useless for the new Ukrainian authorities,” the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza concluded.