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Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people MP Refat Chubarov met with heads of diplomatic missions in Kyiv to speak of the main principles of draft amendments and additions to the Constitution of Ukraine as regards Crimea.

Chubarov stressed that the legal conditions for the successful reintegration of Crimea must be created before the peninsula is de-occupied, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

"Unlike a number of skeptics who suggest that any issues related to improving the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea be discussed once Crimea is de-occupied, on the contrary, we maintain that it is at the stage of preparing the de-occupation of Crimea that we are obliged to create all legal conditions that will facilitate successful reintegration of Crimea in the period following de-occupation and ensure its further and sustainable development as part of the Ukrainian state," Chubarov said.

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Read alsoCrimean Tatars not to vote at Russian presidential election in Crimea - Chubarov"Moreover, we affirm without exaggerating that it is reformatting the status of Crimea's autonomy based on norms and principles of international law, including the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination in forms that do not violate territorial integrity of existing states, that will give Ukraine and all of us the new levers and mechanisms for the early restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea," he added.

In this regard, Chubarov says that to this end, the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine in May 2017 set up a working group that has already drafted amendments and additions to the Constitution of Ukraine as regards Crimea.

"Since this text has not yet been considered by the Constitutional Commission, we refrain from disseminating it," Chubarov said.

At the same time, he described the main provisions of the changes proposed.

"The Crimean Tatar people's right to self-determination is the source of the special status of Crimean Autonomy. The Crimean Autonomy's Constitution shall be adopted by a representative body of the Autonomy in agreement with the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people. The Crimean Tatar language is used in all spheres of public life along with the state language," said Chubarov.

He also noted that another principle, which should be laid down in the Constitution of Ukraine, is to provide "guaranteed representation of the Crimean Tatar people".

In addition, it is proposed to fix in the Basic Law that supreme representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar people shall be elected by the "indigenous people, according to the rules they have established," meaning the Kurultay and Mejlis.

Read alsoMogherini: EU doesn't recognize so-called 'elections' in occupied CrimeaAt the same time, he said that decisions important for the development of Autonomy should be passed with the prior consent of the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar people.

"Such principles, in our opinion, strengthen Ukraine's territorial integrity in Crimea and make it impossible in the future to violate state sovereignty of the Ukrainian state in any of its territories," Chubarov said.

He noted that it must also be provided that the Kurultai should have "the right to a constitutional representation on issues that affect the rights and interests of the Crimean Tatar people".