Ukraine: Verkhovna Rada to hold hearings on Crimean Tatars and national minority returnees

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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 22:04:34 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Ukraine: Verkhovna Rada to hold hearings on Crimean Tatars and national minority returnees

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Natalie Belitser <[email protected]>

Ukraine: Verkhovna Rada to hold hearings on Crimean Tatars
and national minority returnees


Dear colleagues,

Yesterday, on 2 March, at about 6 p.m., an important positive event
has occurred: Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine passed a
resolution on holding the parliamentary hearings on "The legislative
regulation and realization of a State policy on ensuring the rights of
the Crimean Tatar People and national minorities who have been
deported and now voluntarily return to Ukraine".  The intensive
preparation for the hearings have been carried out for more than a
year, but discussion in parliamentary Committees and adoption of such
a decision has been postponed many times being, in fact,  permanently
blocked by the former leftist parliament's speaker  Oleksandr
Tkachenko and left-wing deputies. It appears that this long-awaited
event has become possible only due to the centre-right parliamentary
majority being eventually formed (for the first time in the history of
post-Soviet Ukraine), and the new speaker Ivan Plustch representing
the majority. And actually, despite all our fears and anticipated
complications, the resolution has passed smoothly, following (in
contrast to many other decisions under discussion) the very first
voting. It turned out that neither Refat Chubarov's nor Hennady
Udovenko's (Chair of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights,
National Minorities and Interethnic Relations) thoroughly prepared
speeches and explanations were requested. Radical lefties minority who
chose a tactics of visiting the sessions and taking part in
discussions but not in voting tried, as usual, to oppose but failed.
(They objected, rather aggressively, to mentioning in the text of the
resolution the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar people, to defining  Crimean
Tatars as a "people" whereas other returnees were named "national
minorities" etc.)

The first point of the Resolution fixed the date for the hearings on 5
April, 2000. The second determined bodies and institutions responsible
for organizing  the hearings (including "the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar
People and public organizations representing national minorities").
The third point addressed the Prime Minister of Ukraine with a
proposal to appoint his deputy Mykola Julynsky as the main rapporteur
from the government. And the last point prescribed the direct
translation of the whole hearings by radio broadcasting.
Although the main battle is still ahead, and be sure that the lefties
will mobilize all their resources, and that Leonid Hrach - the
Chairman of the Crimean parliament and, at the same time, leader of
Crimean communists - will by all means be intriguing and plotting to
prevent the success of the hearings, nevertheless, to my mind, the
adoption of this Resolution is an important step forward, and I hope
that all of you share with us such a perception.

Best regards,

Natalya Belitser

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