The occupation authorities have turned Crimea into a military foothold for Russia

Russia has turned Crimea, the historical land where the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, who profess Islam, were formed, into a military foothold for Russia's further full-scale invasion of the rest of Ukraine, the militarization of which further threatens all countries in the Black Sea region.

This is stated in an appeal of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to the participants of the 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is taking place in Istanbul, Ukrinform reports.

"Since the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014, the Crimean Tatar people, who have made a significant contribution to the formation of the Islamic heritage of Eastern Europe, have become the main target of political repression and persecution carried out by order of Moscow," the statement reads.

It is noted that Russia's attempts to use the temporarily occupied Crimea as a platform to expand its influence in the Muslim world by manipulating Islamic rhetoric are particularly cynical.

"In practice, all the actions of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea are aimed at destroying the national, linguistic, cultural, religious identity of the Crimean Tatars and depriving them of their collective memory," the statement reads.

TheMejlis of the Crimean Tatar People called on the participants of the OIC Foreign Ministers' Council session to help restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine, strengthen its support and pressure on Russia as an aggressor state, actively and quickly respond to cases of violations of human rights and the rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, demand that Russia revoke the decision to declare the Mejlis an extremist organization and lift the ban on its activities, directly participate in events within the framework of the international Crimean Platform at the governmental and parliamentary levels, and to support the Crimean Tatar people in their efforts to restore their national identity.

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