After Russia announced mobilization to its armed forces, including in occupied Crimea, about a thousand Crimean Tatars left the peninsula for Turkey, the Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, has said.
"...since the beginning of the criminal mobilization in the territory of Russia and occupied Crimea, about 1,000 Crimean Tatars have been forced to leave for Turkey," it said in a statement.
It is noted that the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, thanked the Turkish Foreign Ministry for support to Ukraine at the level of various international organisations, in particular the UN and the OSCE, as well as for help in organizing the Days of Crimea in Turkey, which took place in Istanbul and Eskisehir, the "capital" of the Crimean Tatar diaspora in the Republic of Turkey.
She urged Turkey to support the "peace formula" proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The parties also discussed the issue of political prisoners. This topic remains on the agenda of Turkey's contacts with Russia.
On the morning of 19 December, Russian security forces searched three houses of Crimean Tatars in the village of Medvedivka, Dzhankoy District in occupied Crimea. The reasons for the searches are not reported.
Earlier, Crimean Tatars in Russia-occupied Crimea received more than 1,500 mobilization summonses.