Editorials, Opinions

Our view: Let Crimea make its own decisions

After weeks of heated turmoil in Crimea, it appears that the Crimean people agree with Vladmir Putin.

Last night, with an 83 percent voter turn out, 96.7 percent of the Crimean parliament voted in favor of becoming a part of Russia.

We think that if the voting results truly stem from the voice of the Crimean people, then the nation should be able to secede from Ukraine.

However, it seems that some news media are skeptical of the legitimacy of the election results. According to reports from Huffington Post and Reuters, the only options were to join Russia or to restore Crimea to its status under its 1992 Constitution. This second option would not let Crimea keep its current autonomy, and would have likely only delayed Russia’s power grab.

The Western powers, U.S. and other European Countries, stated it is illegal for Crimea to secede and refuse to recognize that Crimea is a part of Russia, according to an article from the Washington Post.

President Barack Obama warned Putin of the impending danger Russia will face if he stands firm in Ukraine.

“Further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world,” according to an article from CNN.

Ukrainian Interim President, Oleksandr Turchynov, assured the public yesterday that the outcome of this vote will never lead to a Russian annexation of Crimea.

Despite Turchynov’s resistance, if the Crimean people stand firm on seceding, then Crimea should be allowed to go back to its initial owner: Russia.

It appears to us that Crimea is rushin’ to get away from Ukraine.

Turchynov announced a partial mobilization of the Ukrainian armed forces and said Ukrainian government will do “everything possible” to amend the crisis diplomatically. He gave credit to the Crimean people for remaining peaceful and non-responsive to the mounting aggression from the Russian armed forces.

The most important issue, though, is that the secession could hit Crimea hard economically. It is important to note that Crimea is almost entirely dependent on Ukraine’s resources, with 80 percent of its electricity, 90 percent of the water and $1.2 billion budget comes from Kiev, according to CNN.

The next steps in response to the voting results include: Russia proposing an international support group to mediate the crisis, a move towards a constitution that would include Russian as an official language in Crimea and keeping the Russian currency in circulation alongside with the Crimean currency, according to CNN.

Regardless of the impending outcome for Crimea, we stand by our disagreement with Putin’s methods. Although we understand his intentions to make Crimea a part of Russia, seeing as how there is a large Russian population in Crimea.

If the Crimean people want to leave the Ukraine, “So-vi-et.”

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