Thursday, March 13 2014

 

Baku. On 12 March in Moscow  the Russian President Vladimir Putin had a
half-hour conversation with leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Jamil.
Mediator in the conversation was ex-President Mintimer Shaimiyev.  It can be concluded from an interview of  Putin with Mustafa Jamil that Putin wanted to
obtain support of the leader of the Crimean Tatars and persuade him to support
the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

"Initially,
I had a meeting with the former President of Tatarstan,  Shaimiyev. We exchanged views on the current
situation in Crimea and Ukraine, the sides exchanged views on the status of the
Tatar population," said Jamil. " Shaimiev could not answer questions
about the actions of the Russian military and their withdrawal from the Crimea,
but said  that the  Russian president wanted to talk to me,"
added Jamil.

He replied that first he should obtain the
consent of the Ukrainian leadership to such a meeting , and after obtaining the
consent of the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk , a conversation with Putin  was held.

"For half an hour Putin listened to
my opinions about events and expressed his vision. Our estimates on what is
happening in the Crimea dispersed. However, we were unanimous  only in the opinion that it is necessary to
avoid bloodshed. Putin requested that the Tatars did not intervene in the
conflict, and did not respond to provocations. I said that the Tatars will do
everything possible, but not everything depends on us, and if collisions begin,
it will be impossible to  control the
situation, and all  parties will be
involved  in the conflict," said
Jamil.

He stressed the need for the withdrawal of
Russian troops from the Crimea and respect for the territorial integrity of
Ukraine. "We support the idea of increasing the autonomy of Crimea, but we
are categorically against the separation of the peninsula and its transfer to
another state. Putin did not agree with me and offered to await the result of
the referendum, although we regard the referendum illegal and the results are
clear in advance, Russia's policy in this regard is quite obvious," said
Mustafa Jamil.

* Jamil spent 15 years in Soviet prisons for
defending the rights of the Crimean Tatars. He is the organizers of the
movement for the return of Tatars in Crimea. Prior to November 2013  he was the head of Mejlis of the Crimean
Tatars. Currently Jamil is a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the
most respected and authoritative representative of the Tatar population of
Crimea and  in all Ukraine.