The Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern Wednesday over the sentencing of 5 Crimean Tatars to 13 years in jail.
“We are concerned that our Crimean Tatar kinsmen Dzhemil Gafarov, Servet Gaziev, Erfan Osmanov, Alim Karimov, and Seyran Murtaza were sentenced to 13 years in prison with a decision taken today,” in line with an announcement by the ministry.
It reiterated Türkiye’s assist for “the Crimean Tatars’ right to live freely and safely in their homeland.”
It famous that Ankara expects “necessary steps to be taken as soon as possible for the freedom of all our compatriots imprisoned in Crimea for political reasons, including the aforementioned ones, and Nariman Dzhelyal, Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar National Assembly, our other Crimean Tatar kinsmen Asan Akhtemov and Aziz Akhtemov.”
Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014. President Vladimir Putin formally divided the area into two separate federal topics of the Russian Federation the next month.
Crimea’s ethnic Tatars have since confronted persecution, a scenario particularly decried by Türkiye.
Türkiye, the EU, U.S., in addition to the UN General Assembly, view Crimea’s annexation as unlawful.
Separately, calling for a robust response, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar on Twitter stated: “With no right to last plea. Russian puppet court sentenced #CrimeanTatar political prisoners to 13 years in prison each.”
Russia’s “occupiers arrested them in 2019 under politically motivated charges. Their health condition is a matter of serious concern. This is a verdict to degrading authoritarian regime that considers elderly & disabled as its enemies,” she added.
