The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it called the historic referendum on the entry of the peninsula into Russia as "illegitimate," and the accession itself - "annexation". The statement, timed to the fourth anniversary of the reunification of Crimea and the Russian Federation, is published on the ministry's website. "Accession of the Crimea to the Russian Federation is a violation of international laws, and Turkey supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the document says.. Also, the Turkish authorities announced their intention to continue monitoring the situation on the peninsula.

"We will continue to closely monitor the situation in the Crimea, first of all, the situation of the Crimean-Tatar Turks, which are one of the main constituent parts of the peninsula," the statement says.. Recall that the Crimea became officially the Russian region in March 2014. More than 96% of the voters of the Republic of Crimea and 95.6% of Sevastopol residents voted to join Russia. However, Ukraine continues to consider its peninsula as its own and believe that this is all temporary.