Chechen diaspora in Turkey shared a statment where they indicated their full suppport to the government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and its leader Akhmed Zakayev.

On February 9, Turkish citizen ethnic Chechens published a statement with signatures. In the statement, old Chechen diaspora in Turkey pointed out that their grand fathers had to live their homeland because of brutal and bloody occupation of the Russian Empire at the end of 19th century; it is more than 150 years however, they have the full right to speak for the future of their homeland and their people; as well as they have the full right to act in the benefit of their people for a brighter future.

The Chechen diaspora in Turkey concluded its statement with these points :

– We refuse the recognize the Russian soverignty in our historical territory.
– We refuse to recognize the puppet regime in our homeland that was installed by Russia to implementation of the plan for the destruction of the Chechen people in a fratricidal way.
– We believe that the existence of the Chechen people is possible only with fully independent the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
– We believe that there is only one solution to the Russian-Chechen conflict that is return to the legal field based on the agreement on May 12, 1997 between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria signed by President Boris Yeltsin and President Aslan Maskhadov.
– We recognize and fully support the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Government under leadership of Mr Akhmed Zakayev who follows the path of our first President Dzhokhar Dudayev.
– We recognize Mr Akhmed Zakayev as leader of the Chechen people.

The original text, its Russian translation and signatures can be seen in the website of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria’s Honorary Consulate in Turkey.