20 December 2018, 15:41

MECHANISM OF LOBBYING THE INTERESTS OF THE CRIMEAN TATAR PEOPLE. FOUR ASPECTS

QHA media continues to publish essays on what the mechanism of the struggle of the Crimean Tatars for their rights should be. These materials were selected based on the result of a competition among young specialists in the field of social studies, which was conducted by the Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies.

The proposed essay theme was: The Crimean Tatar people aim at raising profile of the struggle for their rights at the international arena. What would be your advice and suggestions to the Crimean Tatar civic and political activists? Please specify available political, legal, as well as media tools and/or action mechanism.

USEIN ASANOV

The Crimean Tatar people, among other peoples of the former USSR, who were fighting for their freedom, have always been distinguished by mobilization, drive and also, by the ability to properly align the strategy of establishing relations with both state and international structures.

Since the 1990s, representatives of the national movement of the Crimean Tatar people have tried more to improve their relations with the Ukrainian authorities in order to resolve a number of socio-economic and political issues.

However, after 2014, the situation changed dramatically, and the issue of the Crimea with a purely internal Ukrainian issue, went on the international agenda.

Unfortunately, today, due to a number of factors and reasons, the Crimean problem is far from the first place on the agenda of the international community; therefore, it is imperative to build the right lobbying mechanisms and representativeness of the Crimean Tatar people for the effective implementation of the tasks set before us.

Among them, We would highlight the following aspects:

Political
Status
Educational
Medium

It is these two aspects that are fundamental to the greater representativeness of our people and the lobbying of our interests

The first aspect is political

In order to lobby the interests of our people, it seems necessary to open a representative office of the Crimean Tatar people at international organizations in Geneva, Brussels, Vienna, New York and Jeddah.

Representation will open up huge opportunities in front of the Crimean Tatars. Firstly, it will allow us to reach a new level in lobbying our interests, as well as raise recognizability in the world.

Secondly, the main centers of international politics are located precisely under these organizations. Entering such a platform will help us to actualize the Crimean problem and bring it to the agenda in the future.

The second aspect is status

This aspect is closely intertwined with the political aspect.

We are convinced that the status change will allow the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatars in the international arena to strengthen their positions and lobby for their interests in a more profitable status.

Today, in the international legal field, the Crimean Tatars have the status of an indigenous people, which certainly closes before us many opportunities. Therefore, We believe that the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatars should raise the issue of giving the status of a people fighting for their independence to the Crimean Tatars. Under international law, peoples fighting for their independence are subjects of international relations. This means that in the international arena, the Crimean Tatars will be able, de facto, to lobby their interests along with the states in international organizations.

The third aspect is educational

Without the implementation of this aspect it will be impossible to implement the previous two aspects. The training of international-level professional personnel in the field of international relations, law, and politics will enable the successful implementation of the tasks set in a global perspective. Training of such personnel should be carried out in foreign universities (British, American, French, etc.).

The final aspect is the media

The media today play a major role in lobbying their interests.
Of course, there are a number of Crimean Tatar media, but by and large they work for the Ukrainian and Crimean audiences. Therefore, it is necessary to create a platform that would target the international audience. However, proceeding from today's opportunities, you can start with the opening of the Crimean site, for example in the Turkish media space. The national television channel TRT broadcasts worldwide in many languages. Therefore, as an option, it would be logical in the near future to use this available resource.

That is, firstly, we must directly and indirectly enter the Turkish media space to lobby for our interests. Since Turkey is the center of the Islamic and Turkic world. Secondly, to use the channels that we have in Turkey to reach the international media plane.

As a result, with the correct implementation of all the above aspects, we can reach a fundamentally new level, which will strengthen our own lobbyist structures in the international arena, and accelerate the implementation of our tasks in a global perspective.