Sharjah to Help Crimean Tatars

Sharjah, one of seven United Arab Emirates, will donate $175,000 to the construction of an irrigation pipeline supplying water to compact Crimean Tatar settlements and $120,000 to purchase homes for twenty Crimean Tatar families. An agreement to this effect was signed at the Cabinet of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, between Sharjah’s Foundation General on Wakf Affairs of Sharjah Emirate and the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration of Ukraine. On behalf of both sides the document was signed by deputy state committee chairman Yuri Sukhov and Jamal Al-Tarifi, head of the and authorized representative of the emirate of Sharjah who visited the Crimea not so long ago.

“Water of is one of man’s basic necessities,” Jamal Al- Tarifi told journalists after meeting with the Autonomy’s First Vice Speaker Vasyl Kyseliov, reports the Crimean News Agency.

Mr. Al-Tarifi informed that other relief projects for victims of [Stalin’s] deportation are being considered, specifically in terms of electrification and capital construction.

Jamal Al-Tarifi stated that Sharjah was prepared for further cooperation with the Crimea, specifically in the economic and cultural domains. He believed that President Leonid Kuchma’s visit to the UAE in December would “open fresh opportunities of cooperation between our countries and regions...”

Vice Premier Edip Hafarov said at a meeting at the council of ministers that a mere 65% of compact Crimean Tatar settlements have a regular water supply and that there are 120,000 persons on the housing waiting lists. Solving the housing problem requires some UAH 450 million. “Ukraine alone is unable to solve all the repatriate problems. We need international aid and we receive it with gratitude,” declared the vice premier. Mr. Al-Tarifi said the agreement signed at the Autonomy’s council of ministers was the first step made by the foundation in helping the Crimean Tatars, reports The Day’s Mykyta KASYANENKO from Simferopol.