Ankara Pays Close Attention to Ensuring Rights of Crimean Tatars - Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Ankara pays special attention to the provision of security and rights of the Crimean Tatars.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Ankara pays particular attention to ensuring the rights of the Crimean Tatars, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We pay special attention to the provision of security and rights of the Crimean Tatars," Erdogan told journalists as quoted by the NTV broadcaster.

The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group that currently accounts for an estimated 13 percent, or about 260,000 people, of the Crimean population.

Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014 after 96 percent of the peninsula's residents who voted in a referendum on the matter supported the move. The leaders of Mejlis, an organization representing the minority, Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov opposed the reunification and left the peninsula for Ukraine. They have contributed to the blockade of the peninsula imposed by Ukraine, as well as accusing Russia of violating the Crimean Tatars' rights, which has been refuted by Moscow.