On May 14, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed an appeal to the international community on the Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People, receiving 310 votes in favor.
This was reported by Radio Svoboda.
The appeal specifically addressed the ongoing violations of the rights and freedoms of Crimean Tatars by Russia, as highlighted by Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people and a member of parliament, on his Facebook page.
Dzhemilev stated, “Today’s appeal urges the governments and parliaments of other nations to recognize these acts as genocide, following the examples set by Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. We must unite our efforts to hold Russia accountable for both its past and present crimes in occupied Crimea.”
He emphasized that the occupier's policies in the Crimea are aimed at the systematic expulsion of the indigenous people from their homeland. This includes the mass settlement of Russian citizens in Crimea, severe persecution for any signs of disloyalty, harsh prison sentences handed down by occupation courts for even innocuous social media posts, inhumane torture in detention facilities, and documented cases of abduction and murder. These actions illustrate that the Putin regime continues to engage in genocidal practices against the indigenous peoples.
Several countries have recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as an act of genocide, including Ukraine in 2015 and Lithuania and Latvia in 2019, followed by Canada in 2022, and Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic in 2024.
On May 18, 1944, the Soviet regime initiated the deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population to Central Asia, forcibly relocating approximately 200,000 individuals within just three days using dozens of railroad cars.