Turkey concerned over raids on homes of Crimean Tatars

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Thursday voiced concern over Wednesday’s raids on the homes of Crimean Tatars.

"We are concerned over the raids on the homes of our kin Crimean Tatar Turks and the detention orders issued in the morning hours of yesterday (February 17) in Crimea," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

"We call for an end to such practices against the Crimean Tatars, who are the fundamental constituents of the Crimean Peninsula," the statement added.

It reiterated that Turkey does not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea, and vowed to continue to stand by Crimean Tatars.

On Wednesday, Lyudmila Denisova, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights ombudswoman, said Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) raided homes of Crimean Tatars and detained six of them.

Denisova said the detentions were politically motivated.

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014, with Russia's President Vladimir Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Crimea's ethnic Tatars have faced persecution since Russia's 2014 takeover of the peninsula, a situation Turkey has decried.

Turkey and the US, as well as the UN General Assembly, view the annexation as illegal.