Day of Struggle for the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People

Today is the Day of Struggle for Crimean Tatars People’s Rights.

The deportation of the Crimean Tatars began at 03:00 on May 18, 1944 and lasted until the beginning of June. It was carried out in the line with the secret decree of the State Defense Committee No. 5859 “On Crimean Tatars” of May 11, 1944, where the Crimean Tatars were accused of allegedly betrayal and collaboration with Nazis during the occupation of Crimea by Hitler’s troops.

Officially, 183,144 Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea; according to Tatar sources, the number reached 228,500 and during the first year, 110,000 of them died.

The Crimean Tatar people consistently called for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, as well as did not recognize Russian occupation of Crimea. On May 16, 2014 President of Ukraine issued Decree which established May 18 as a Day of struggle for the rights of the Crimean Tatar.

Remember!

Dgho, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons