Declaration Of the World Congress of the Crimean Tatars
29.05.2009 17:24

Declaration
Of the World Congress of the Crimean Tatars


We, the Delegates of the World Congress of the Crimean Tatars, representing 162 community and political organizations from 12 countries, having gathered for the first time in the historical homeland of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea;

- based on the right of the Crimean Tatar people to fully realize all their rights and liberties, as recognized in the Statute of the United Nations, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Declaration of the rights of Indigenous peoples, and other norms of international law related to the rights of nations and individuals,

- expressing grave concern due to the lack of radical improvements in restoring and guaranteeing the rights of the Crimean Tatar people on their native territory in Crimea,

- being aware that a delay in accepting urgent and effective measures aiming to ensure political, economic, religious and cultural revival of the Crimean Tatar people endangers its existence as an ethnicity,

- being convinced that restoring the rights of the Crimean Tatar people would contribute to the development of harmonious, cooperative relations based on justice, democracy, respect of human rights, non-discrimination and honesty between the Ukrainian state and the indigenous people of Crimea,

- understanding that overcoming the consequences of the genocide against the Crimean Tatar people committed by the Communist regime of the USSR on May 18, 1944, and then perpetuated through the decades of forceful detention of the nation in places of deportation, cannot be done only by the efforts of Ukraine, and should become a subject of special focus and attention of the UN, Council of Europe, EU, and other international institutions,

- desiring to support to the highest degree possible the peace and understanding between the nations and peoples of the world, mutual understanding and cooperation, peaceful relations between Ukraine and the countries where Crimean Tatar Diaspora organizations work,

- aiming to direct all our efforts, energy and knowledge for the benefit of Crimea and to support the right of the Crimean Tatar people to freely establish their political status and have economic, social and cultural development,

ANNOUNCE -

- the establishment of the International non-governmental organization "The World Congress of Crimean Tatars" as a body, unifying and coordinating the efforts of Crimean Tatar non-governmental organizations created in different countries, which expressed their will to cooperate according to the goals and the mission announced in the present Declaration.
The World Congress' headquarters will be located in Crimea, Ukraine,

DECLARE -

- that the Kurultay of the Crimean Tatar people will be, for the World Congress of the Crimean Tatars, as well as for all the organizations, which joined their forces in the Congress, the highest representative body of the Crimean Tatar people.

- the Kurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as it agencies and representatives, will develop cooperation with all the Crimean Tatar non-governmental organizations, which took part in the World Congress on the basis of equal and mutually respectable attitudes regardless of their size, country of origin, and region of activities.

FORCEFULLY STATE -

- that all our efforts and actions directed towards the interests of the Crimean Tatar people will be based on the principles of non-violence, justice, democracy, strict observation of the political, economic, cultural, religious and other legal rights of all individuals regardless of their ethnic origins.

Accepted at the World Congress of the Crimean Tatar people,

22 May 2009, Simferopol, Crimea