Crimean activists to start legal campaign to protect Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai
Crimean legal experts and attorneys intend to start a legal campaign to protect the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, attorney Emil Kurbedinov wrote on his Facebook page.
“Our team of attorneys and legal experts intends to start a legal campaign to protect the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai from baseless assaults on the historical population of Crimean Tatars, a cultural heritage site! In general, I can say that primarily we intend to acquire official responses from the Russian Federation on the current situation,” Kurbedinov wrote.
The attorney noted that, upon receiving the relevant documents, the human rights activists intend to take the matter to the level of international courts.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture claims that due to the Russian Crimean authorities carrying out operations in the Bakhchysarai reserve, there is a risk that the main building of the Khan’s Palace may be damaged.
The Russian Crimean authorities refute these allegations, and say that the operations will continue.
Former head of the Crimean committee on inter-ethnic relations and deported citizens Yedyem Dudakov, who has visited the site where the operations are underway, believes that the Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai has lost its chance once and for all to be placed on the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites due to the poor restoration work being carried out by the Russian Crimean authorities.
The Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, the Genuezskaya Krepost in Sudak, the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Mangup Kale, Eski Kermen and Chufut Kale are all candidates for inclusion in the World Heritage Site list.
The Khan’s Palace museum in Bakhchysarai is the best known museum relating to the history of the Crimean Tatars in the territory of the Crimean Giray Khans’ summer residence. The museum complex includes a palace, harem, cemetery and mosque.