Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make an official visit to Kyiv on March 20 to participate in the 4th meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish Cooperation Council and meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, according to the press service of the Turkish president.
Erdogan also plans to hold a meeting with representatives of Crimean Tatar people, the peninsula’s indigenous population, who fear a repeat of the severe persecution they suffered in the Stalin era following Russia’s annexation of Crimea last March, Ukraine Today reports.
Crimean leaders say the pressure on Muslim residents has been growing ever since Russia’s illegal takeover of the Ukrainian territory last year, with raids on the Crimean Tatar TV channel and the homes of prominent Tatar activists.
Erdogan is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian and Turkish businessmen to discuss the further development of bilateral contacts.
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