 Halya Coynash writes: "Regional mejlis or Crimean Tatar self-governing bodies are being prevented from holding any remembrance gatherings to mark the 72nd anniversary of the 1944 Deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar people from their homeland. The escalation in repression over the last week or so has also raised fears that Russia may try to provoke trouble in order to orchestrate a bloody crackdown. The refusals to allow the gatherings were anticipated, and not specifically because of Russia’s internationally condemned ban on the Crimean Tatar Mejlis or representative assembly. This is now the third anniversary of the 1944 Deportation since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. It is equally the third time that Crimean Tatars are facing bans and harassment for remembering the victims of Stalin’s crime which has been recognized by Ukraine as an act of genocide." From Wikipedia: "The forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea was ordered by Joseph Stalin as a form of collective punishment for alleged collaboration with the Nazi occupation regime in Taurida Subdistrict during 1942–1943. The state-organized removal is known as the Sürgünlik in Crimean Tatar. A total of more than 230,000 people were deported, mostly to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. This included the entire ethnic Crimean Tatar population, at the time about a fifth of the total population of the Crimean Peninsula, as well as smaller numbers of ethnic Greeks and Bulgarians. A large number of deportees (more than 100,000 according to a 1960s survey by Crimean Tatar activists) died from starvation or disease as a direct result of deportation. It is considered to be a case of ethnic cleansing. For a long time Crimean Tatars and Soviet dissidents called for recognition of the genocide of Crimean Tatars." Image: Human Rights in Ukraine Sources: Deportation of the Crimean Tatars, Wikipedia Halya Coynash, Russia Bans Remembrance Events on Anniversary of Crimean Tatar Deportation, Human Rights in Ukraine, 18 May 2016 |
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