What do Crimeans want?
Crimea is a clear example of territorial disputes and, as such, it has
many issues at stake. Potentially, many remedies could address the difference.
The previous post presented an article that summarizes the current situation and its domestic, regional and
international implications.
The
post today focuses on one of the often ignored agents in any territorial dispute: people.
What do Crimeans want?
Most
of the current academic and non-academic center the attention on the 2014
referendum and its legitimacy and legality. However, there is earlier evidence
about what people may have wanted. It is for that reason there are references
to the 1991 referendum and the 1994 poll leading up to the events in 2014.
Nine
out of fifteen Republics of former the USSR participated in the Soviet Union
Referendum on 17th March 1991. Voting results in the territory of
Crimea were included in the general Ukrainian results. In Crimea (without
Sevastopol city) 1 085 570 people (87,6 %) out of 1 239 092 people (turnout –
79,3 %) participated in the referendum and voted for the preservation of the
Soviet Union.
Crimean
president Yuriy Meshkov in 1994 openly called for independence. Seventy percent
of the peninsula’s population voted in favor of greater autonomy in a March
1994 referendum (technically, it was a poll).
In 2014 a referendum with 83.10% voter turnout
confirmed by 96.77% Crimeans were in favor of reunifying Crimea with Russia. The referendum voters to choose whether
to reunify “Crimea with Russia as a
subject of the Russian Federation” or to restore “the 1992 Crimea constitution
and the status of Crimea as part of Ukraine.”
Since then, the 2014 referendum has been questioned.
The UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 under the heading “Territorial integrity of
Ukraine” states that the UN:
“Calls upon all States, international organizations and
specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of the
Autonomous Republic of
Crimea
and the city of Sevastopol on the basis of the above-mentioned referendum and
to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing
any such altered status.”
“Underscores
that the
referendum held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol
on 16 March 2014, having no validity, cannot form the basis for any alteration
of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol.”
Voter turnout in the Russian presidential
election in the Crimea on March 18, 2018 was 42% of voters.
Sources
Referendum 2014 in Crimea
UN Security Council Report (meeting 7138) March 2014
The UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 March 2014
UN Security Council Report (meeting 7138) March 2014
The UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 March 2014
NOTE:
This post is based on Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Territorial Disputes and State
Sovereignty: International Law and Politics,” London and New York: Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, 2020 (forthcoming)
Previous
published research monograph about territorial disputes and sovereignty by the
author, Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and
Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue,” London and New York: Routledge, Taylor
and Francis Group, 2017.
NEXT
POST: Crimea and the many different views
Wednesday 19th February 2020
Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
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