"We should not turn Ukraine into a spot of instability and social conflicts. I am against implementing the project of Crimean-Tatar autonomy in Crimea, which can lead to creating a zone of ethnic and social conflicts," he said.

Observers say that this was a move against Yanukovych's main rival, Viktor Yushchenko. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc includes the leaders of Crimean Tatar Majlis [assembly], who have long tried to raise the issue of creating a Crimean Tatar autonomy on the peninsula. However, Yushchenko himself has never supported the idea.

Source:

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian, 29 Oct 04
BBC Monitoring, UK, in English, Friday, October 29, 2004

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