The deportation of the Crimean Tatars on 18 May 1944 that took away the lives of tens of thousands of the Crimean Tatars is a crime not only against indigenous people but also against the Ukrainian people.
The totalitarian regime, which had deported women, children and the elderly from Crimea, insidiously took advantage of the absence of men who still fought on the front and were unable to protect their families. While the Crimean Tatar men fought for their Homeland in the ranks of the Soviet army, they and their families were deprived of homes, property and most importantly – their native land – the Crimea, on which the Crimean Tatar people was born.
The identity, existence, history and culture of the Crimean Tatars are impossible without the Crimea. The people, which courageously and without a drop of blood fought for the right to come back, to live and to develop on their native land, today is once again forced to continue the struggle for free from the invader Crimea, and this time, together with the Ukrainians.
The Holodomor of 1932-33, the Deportation in 1944 are the crimes of genocide, which were directed at the extermination of Ukrainians and the Crimean Tatars, as freedom-loving peoples. Therefore, the struggle for the liberation of the Crimea from the occupation regime is the duty of every citizen of Ukraine.
The Crimea became the center of world’s attention during the Yalta peace conference in 1945, which enshrined the global order after World War II. The world history ignores the fact that the leading leaders of victor countries chose not to notice the peninsula without the Crimean Tatars when the new world order and security were arranged six months after the deportation. This led to the threat of disappearance of the Crimean Tatars as a people.
The Deportation of 1944, the Occupation of 2014 are crimes against the indigenous people of Crimea – the Crimean Tatars. The repressive policy being implemented in the Crimea, in reality, by the totalitarian regime in relation to indigenous people, again today pursues the aim to destroy the Crimean Tatars and drive out them from the peninsula. The prevention of one more genocide and the threat of destruction of the indigenous people in the Crimea today is the responsibility of the world.