The CRO condemns the comments made by the Russian Ambassador in Turkey, Mr. Alexei Yerkhov on Feb. 14th of 2020. The top Russian Federation diplomat made some false and unnecessary comments about the Russian-Circassian war during the eighteenth and nineteenth century during an interview regarding the Moscow-backed military campaign in Syria and the Russian-Turkish relations.
The Comments made by Mr. Yerkhov are disgraceful, false and misleading. Furthermore, has nothing to do with the subject of the interview. We sincerely believe that such irresponsible, incorrect and outrageous statements might jeopardize the Russian-Circassian relations. Furthermore, these statements are contradicting the statements made by the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Putin, during his visits to the Republic of Kabardino–Balkar and the Republic of Adygea that emphasized on building and maintaining good relations between the Russians and the Circassians under the Russian Federation umbrella. Therefore, it is highy important that Mr. Yerkhov appologizes for his comments and release a statment that points out the mistakes he made during his interview.
The CRO is a strong advocate of resolving the Russian-Circassian relations via truthful dialogue and objective collaboration, far from spreading false statements and making fraudulent allegations.
Best regards,
The Board of Executives of the CRO
Feb. 16th, 2020
Alexei Yerkhov