RFE/RL Newsline Vol.3, No.69, Part II, 9 April,1999

CRIMEAN TATARS PROTEST ALLEGED DISCRIMINATION. Some
3,000 Tatars held a rally in front of the Crimean
Supreme Council building in Simferopol on 8 April to
protest "discrimination" against them. The protesters
demanded a representative quota in Crimea's parliament,
official status for their language, and changes in the
Ukrainian and Crimean Constitutions, which they view as
discriminatory. They burned documents symbolizing
Crimea's Constitution and a 1783 manifesto in which
Catherine the Great declared Crimea to be part of
Russia. Protest actions will continue until 18 May, the
date of the deportation of Tatars from Crimea by the
Stalin regime. Out of the 260,000 Tatars who returned to
Crimea in the past decade, some 100,000 are still unable
to acquire Ukrainian citizenship. JM

Meeting's Resolution

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