The Turkish ambassador to Ukraine was surprised by Crimean Speaker Leonid Hrach saying that Turkey has territorial claims on Ukraine, Interfax Ukraine reports. The Crimean speaker declared in his speech, “We know that Turkey has long been publishing maps where the Crimea is painted using the Turkish national colors.” In a letter to the speaker, the ambassador reminds that mutual respect for the territorial integrity of states and mutual recognition of independence and sovereignty within current international boundaries are among the underlying principles of international law, adding that Turkey has done so by signing a friendship and cooperation agreement with Ukraine, in May 1992, which is considerably earlier than certain other neighbors of Ukraine.
People’s Deputy Mustafa Dzhemilyev, leader of the Crimean Turkish Majlis and chairman of the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Turkish People, comments on the Crimean speaker’s statement and the Turkish ambassador’s response, saying that the Crimean speaker has “on more than one occasion made such provocative anti-Tatar and anti-Turkish statements, claiming that if the Crimean Tatars find themselves in a better situation on the peninsula, they will immediately join the Crimea to Turkey.” Mr. Dzhemilyev believes that Leonid Hrach makes such statements as part of the election campaign. “He wants to capitalize on the pro-Russian and anti-Tatar moods harbored by part of the Crimean residents,” says the Majlis leader.
