Poroshenko to Give Crimean Tatars Right to Self-Determination

Ukraine constitution should be amended to provide the right to self-determination to Crimean Tatars, local media reported Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the country's constitution should be amended to provide the right to self-determination to Crimean Tatars, local media reported Tuesday.

"These amendments stem from the inherent right of the Crimean people to self-determination within the sovereign Ukrainian state," Poroshenko was quoted as saying by the Korrespondent news outlet.

In May, at an event commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Ukrainian president declared his intention to establish a national autonomy for Tatars in Crimea.

Crimean Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group that currently accounts for an estimated 13 percent — or about 260,000 people — of the Crimean population. Crimean Tatars were forcefully deported by the Soviet authorities to Central Asia during WWII.

After Crimea decided in a referendum to secede from Ukraine and reunify with Russia in March 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree rehabilitating ethnic minorities that suffered under the rule of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, including Crimean Tatars.