Estonia allocates EUR 105000 for Crimean Tatars rights protection

uatoday.tv

Local residents hold Ukrainian and Crimean Tatars flags in the village of Chongar, Ukraine, on Sept. 20, 2015. (AP Photo)

Project launched to raise awareness of Crimea's indigenous people among western audience

The Estonian government has allocated EUR 105,000 for the project titled 'Protection of Crimean Tatar rights through public diplomacy', according to Oliver Loode, Vice Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indegenous Issues in an interview.

Loode said the project, aimed at raising awareness about the Crimean Tatar issue among the western audience, was developed by the Estonian Institute of Human Rights.

Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian presidential envoy for Crimean Tatar People's affairs Mustafa Dzhemilev has said that since the beginning of the Russian annexation of Crimea, at least 10,000 Crimean Tatars have fled Crimea. As many as 15,000 Tatars are thought to have fled the occupied peninsula over the last two years.