Today, 18 May, on the Day of Struggle for the Rights of Crimean Tatars, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on the world to recognise the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide.
"18 May 2023 marks the 79th anniversary of the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars, one of the most heinous crimes of the Soviet totalitarian regime," the Foreign Ministry said.
It is noted that in 1944, the USSR accused the Crimean Tatar people of collaborating with the Nazi authorities on trumped-up cases, which became a far-fetched pretext to launch the deportation mechanism. In violation of international law, the Soviet government committed an act of genocide to erase the national identity of the Crimean Tatar people, an indigenous people of Ukraine, by prohibiting the use of their native language, the practice of their religion and the preservation of their culture.
"We remember those who suffered from this tragedy and pay tribute to the Crimean Tatar people, who for centuries have been and continue to be repressed by the Russian Empire, the USSR, and now modern Russia," the Foreign Ministry said.