MINNIKHANOV: CRIMEAN TATARS SHOULD BE INTEGRATED INTO RUSSIAN SOCIETY
The Crimean Tatar people should be integrated into Russia society while preserving their own identity, Rustam Minnikhanov, the acting president of Tatarstan, declared in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Both before and after the referendum conducted in Crimea on the entry of the district into Russia, the acting head of Tatarstan went to the peninsula on the special instructions of the Russian president to participate in negotiations with leaders of the Crimean Tatar people.
"Crimean Tatars should be integrated into Russian society, while preserving their own identity. They should not be segregated; they need to be integrated. On these matters we should help them," Minnikhanov said while participating in a forum "Trade and Manufacturing Dialogue of Russia and Egypt," in Cairo.
"I think those decisions that are being made today in the areas of the language and culture of the Crimean Tatars, of educational programs, and of every day issues connected with land parcels will improve the situation. But there is much that must be done so that these people will have trust in the authorities who have now arrived," he added.
Minnikhanov said that the republic of Tatarstan will help the Bakhchisarai district of Crimea "in the training of cadres and every day issues."
On 16 March a referendum was held in Crimea regarding the status of autonomy and more than 96% of the participants spoke for entry of the region into Russia, and on 18 March the corresponding agreement was signed. The State Duma and Federation Council approved the agreement on the joining of Crimea to Russia and the federal constitutional law on the formation within the Russian federation of two new component entities (subjects): the republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. On 21 March Putin signed both documents. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 May 2015)
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