Interreligious Council of Crimea: We will make every effort to preserve civil peace in Crimea

Due to the difficult situation in Crimea, members of the interfaith council of Crimea “Peace – the Gift of God” issued an appeal, which states that for many centuries, the multinational and multiconfessional region was characterized by the fact that all its peoples could find a reasonable compromise in solving complex issues.

“In this regard we have a firm belief that in the current sociopolitical situation we, churches and religious organizations, state and local governments, as well as political parties and public associations, will make every effort to preserve civil peace in Crimea,” reads the statement.

“We condemn the confrontation and hostility between people in different regions of Ukraine and Crimea, representatives of different religions and ethnic minorities, and urge the authorities to refrain from any steps that could be interpreted as aimed to divide us along religious, linguistic, ethnic, regional, or other lines.

“In these difficult trials we must attempt to avoid all sorts of division in our society, to preserve the territorial integrity of our country.

“We believe that the events of early 2014 will forever be a sad page in the history of Ukraine. And we need to make every effort to prevent a repeat of such tragedies in the future.” The appeal was published by UNIAN-Religion.