Turkey does not recognize the actual situation in Crimea, which constitutes a violation of international law, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the twelfth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of the peninsula.
“While strongly supporting Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, Türkiye will continue to closely monitor the situation on the Peninsula and keep it on the agenda, with particular attention to the situation of the Crimean Tatar Turks,” the statement said, published on Monday on the website of Turkey’s foreign ministry.
On March 16, it has been 12 years since Russia held a fake “referendum on the status of Crimea” in the previously occupied peninsula, and March 18 marks the anniversary of the attempted illegal annexation, when the so-called “agreements on the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation” were signed.
