Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People: 80th Anniversary of Deportation

In 2024, it will be the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people from the territory of the Crimean Peninsula by the Soviet totalitarian regime in 1944.

The deportation of the Crimean Tatar people was the culmination of russian colonial policy aimed at de-Tatarizing Crimea. During military operations, while men were on the front lines, the Soviet authorities deceitfully expelled children, women, and the elderly from their homes and sent them into exile — a path that for many became their last. After the end of World War II, almost 9,000 Crimean Tatar soldiers and officers were sent to places of deportation or labor camps. Crimean Tatars were not only deprived of their homeland but also of their own names, language, history, and identity.

The genocide was also exemplified by the actions of the Soviet regime in erasing the memory of Crimean Tatars from the history of the Crimean Peninsula: Crimean history was revised, russian imperial narratives were introduced, and myths were deliberately and massively disseminated. And today, the occupying country uses this narrative to spread language of hostility, oppression, and discord in temporarily occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian people, who have experienced persecution and repression and have also become victims of the Soviet genocide (Holodomor 1932–1933), fully understand and share the pain of the deportation. The genocide of the Crimean Tatar people is a shared tragedy, a tragedy of the Ukrainian people.

As long as crimes against humanity are not adequately assessed, there is always the possibility of a repetition of the terrible practice of destroying national communities, which is being carried out by russia today. Ukraine is working to have the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people recognized at the international level, as well as by other nations that have suffered from similar crimes of totalitarian regimes.

We honor and remember!