27 Feb 2014 10:14

Tatarstan urges Crimean Tatars to live peacefully with ethnic Russians

KAZAN. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The head of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, has said that the republic's leadership, the State Council of Tatarstan and the World Congress of Tatars have called on Crimea's Tatars to live with the ethnic Russian population of Crimea in peace and unity.

Crimean Tatars and pro-Russian activists staged rival rallies outside of the Crimean parliament building on Wednesday. Scuffles occasionally erupted between them.

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Chairman Refat Chubarov and Russian Unity party leader Serhiy Arsyonov jointly called on participants in both rallies to act peacefully.