Last year, on May 16, 2014, a statement was released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the 70th anniversary of the Crimean Tatar deportation.
More than 230,000 Crimean Tatars were forced from their homeland by Joseph Stalin in 1944.
The statement explained: “Those who survived the horrific transit to Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia faced hunger, disease and repression on arrival. Nearly half of those deported, mostly women and children, perished between 1944-1947. Many Crimean Tatars and their descendants remain in exile today.”
Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea has reopened “old wounds,” Mr. Kerry added, noting the list of human rights abuses in Crimea. “Murder, beatings, the kidnapping of Crimean Tatars and others have become standard fare. Local ‘authorities’ announced that Crimean Tatars will have to vacate their property and give up their land. Crimean Tatars have been assaulted for speaking their language, and Tatar community leader Mustafa Dzhemilev has been banned from returning to his home in Crimea for five years. Thousands of Tatars and others have fled their homes in Crimea, fearful for their safety. Those who remain face a future of repression, discrimination, censorship, limits on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the criminalization of dissent.”
Mr. Kerry said the U.S. stands in solidarity with the Crimean Tatars today against a new threat to their community. “We reaffirm our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and our deep commitment to the human rights of all citizens of Ukraine, including those in Crimea.”
This year, in the lead-up to “Victory Day” on May 9, billboards paid for by the local Communist Party featuring the image of Joseph Stalin have appeared in Sevastopol, with slogans such as “Eternal glory to the victors.” Other acts of intimidation included the desecration and vandalism of a mass grave near Symferopol where Jews, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war who were executed by the Nazis were buried. The Federation of Russian Jewish Communities has urged the Crimean authorities to post police guards at the burial site (that has seen repeated attacks since the 1980s) to prevent further damage.
Source: “Kerry’s statement on Crimean Tatar deportation of 1944,” The Ukrainian Weekly, May 23, 2014. (Updated information: The Moscow Times, April 17, 2015; Toronto Star, April 30, 2015.)