Crimean Tatars look warmly at

Subject:

Comments:
: CRIMEAN TATARS LOOK WARMLY AT EU MEMBERSHIP : By Huseyin Akkas, Cihan News Agency : Zamon Online, Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday 23, 2005 : Tatars living in the Crimean Autonomous Republic, which is dependent on : Ukraine, also support Ukraine's potential European Union (EU) membership. : After the pro-Western candidate's victory in the recent contested elections, : the Ukraine's possible candidacy for the EU has run the risk of : overshadowing Turkey's EU perspective. Tatar leader Kirimoglu commented, : "This will be in the advantage of Ukraine." : The Crimean Tatars National Assembly President and Ukrainian Deputy Mustafa : Abdulcemil Kirimoglu expressed that he did not find the threat of a civil : war after the debated elections realistic. Determining that Crimean Tatars : had supported reformist Our Ukraine Party Leader Victor Yuschenko in the : elections, Kirimoglu also warned that some incidents could occur in some : regions of the country. He also emphasized that Russian President Vladimir : Putin did not have a civil war policy and added that some powers around : Putin would work to provide such a policy. : Kirimoglu answered our questions about the post election developments and : position of the Crimean Tatars in his house in Bahcesaray, which was the : capital of the Former Crimean Sultanate. He evaluated the realization of : the pro-Yuschenko demonstrations that continued for many days as the : most significant development in the region since the collapse of the Soviet : Block. Kirimoglu determined the reaction of the Ukrainian public saying: : "This was a surprise. Nobody expected such a thing. The public realized : their existence." : Determining that Yanukovych was supported by communists, Slavic nationalists : and pro-former Soviets and had been using state assets for his own success : by violating them in the first elections, the Tatar leader clarified that : they had supported Yuschenko in the elections. Kirimoglu also indicated that : whereas 15 percent of the votes in the Crimean regions had been cast for : Yushchenko, 90 percent of the Crimean Tatars had voted for the 'orange' : reformist leader. "If we had known that Yushchenko would lose, we would : still vote for him again", said Kirimoglu, calling the new president "a : democratic figure" and adding that they would negotiate with Yushchenko in : the new period and their expectations were very high.