To the Turkish Parliament members
Statement of the All-Tatar Public Center About political hunger strike
The All-Tatar Public Center (VTOTs) announces the beginning of a political hunger strike on February 3, 2021, against the claim of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Tatarstan to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan on recognizing the VTOTs as an extremist organization and on the liquidation of the organization, against the trial of the VTOTs. The trial will take place on February 24.
We believe that the trial of the oldest (founded in 1989) Tatar national organization, the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOTs), is an act of demonstrative disrespect for the Tatar people. VTOTs is the only Tatar public organization consistently defending the rights of the Tatar people. Since 1989, the VTOTs has been tirelessly fighting for the statehood of the Republic of Tatarstan, for the implementation of the state status of the Tatar language, for the strengthening of federalism in Russia, for the constitutional rights of all peoples of Russia. The VTOTs role is great in the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Tatarstan on August 30, 1990, in holding a referendum on the state status of Tatarstan on March 21, 1992, and in the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan on November 6, 1992. It should be noted that the organization has always acted within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Constitution of the Russian Federation. VTOTs want to be recognized as an extremist organization on absolutely trumped-up charges. For example, they find extremism in the address of the VTOTs of 2017 “SAVE THE TATAR LANGUAGE!” or in the Articles of VTOTs, which was adopted in 2004.
Recognition of the VTOTs as an extremist organization is tantamount to recognizing the Tatar people as an extremist, recognizing the extremist idea of statehood of the Republic of Tatarstan and the provisions on federalism of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 5: “The federal structure of the Russian Federation is based on equality and self-determination of peoples in the Russian Federation.”), This is also a violation of the constitutional rights of citizens to public associations and freedom of thought and speech
To the Turkish Parliament members
