Dzhemilev suggests creating Crimean Tatar batallion to strengthen Ukrainian presence along administrative border
In the Kherson region, near the border of annexed Crimea, the process of creating a battalion of the Crimean Tatars continues. The leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, said that it will "strengthen the Ukrainian presence" in the region at a press conference in Kiev on April 6th, as reported by Krym.Realii.
"We are now forming an armed unit near the border with Crimea. The main goal of this battalion, of course, will not be armed resistance... They will guard the border and strengthen the Ukrainian presence in the Kherson region," Dzhemilev said.
"But it is possible that if bloody ethnic cleansing occurs [in Crimea] this battalion will try to help our people, whatever the price may be. That's why they call themselves the ‘suicide battalion,’” the national leader of the Crimean Tatars said.
At the same time, Dzhemilev focused on the principles of non-violence. "Our only instrument in this battle is a peaceful resistance to the occupants and gathering information, drawing attention of the world community."
"If there is some kind of military action on the part of the Crimean Tatars happening, like an armed resistance, and, by the way, the invaders are trying to provoke the Crimean Tatars to act like that, it will give them a reason to destroy our people as it happened in Chechnya. It will be the death our people," he added.
Earlier, the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov, assured that the establishment of the Crimean battalion, as a part of the Ukrainian National Guard, is not contrary to the general principle of the national movement of the Crimean Tatars of non-violence.