Kyiv Calls on International Community to Recognize 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars was Genocide

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 18 – On the 78^th anniversary of Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Ukrainian foreign ministry called on the international community to recognize that that action was a genocide and also to support Ukraine’s efforts to reverse Putin’s Anschluss of their homeland in 2014 and the repressions the occupiers continue to inflict on the Crimean Tatars.

            In passionate language, the ministry declared that “the Russian Federation must bear international-legal responsibility for all the crimes against humanity on the territory of Ukraine including in Crimea” (unian.net/politics/mid-ukrainy-prizyvaet-mir-priznat-genocidom-deportaciyu-krymskih-tatar-v-1944-godu-novosti-ukraina-11831559.html).

            That declaration was followed by a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who noted that when the Crimean Tatars were deported, neither they nor others thought they would be able to return and yet they have done so. Now, Moscow has again occupied their lands and many do not expect that to be reversed (t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official/1685).

            But despite that, the Ukrainian leader said, Ukraine has withstood the onslaught from Russia. And now we are fighting “to bring life back to every corner of our homeland,” again including Crimea, the homeland of the Crimean Tatars. Let everyone know that “we shall return,” and the Crimean Tatars will get the justice they deserve.