Following is the text of a statement released by the Illinois Division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. It was prepared in conjunction with the Day of Remembrance of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars, which was marked in Chicago on May 21.
The expulsion of the Crimean Tatars from their homeland in Crimea in 1944 by Stalin’s Soviet regime was one of this century’s greatest crimes, and one that has been silenced in the world by the Soviet Union, and since the break-up of the Soviet Union, silenced by Russia.
The Crimean Tatar singer Jamala brought this crime to the attention of the world with her song “1944” when she won the Eurovision contest.
But the struggle of the Crimean Tatar nation has been advanced for years by the former dissident and the Crimean Tatar spiritual leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, and by Refat Chubarov, leader of the Crimean Tatar national movement known as the Mejlis, as well as others who gave their lives for justice.
The organized deportation and exile of the Crimean Tatar people from their homeland by the Soviet state has now been enshrined on the 18th of May each year as the Day of Remembrance for the victims by the Ukrainian Parliament. It is estimated that close to 400,000 Crimean Tatars were deported from their homeland in Crimea in 1944 and forcefully resettled in Central Asia, in what is now Uzbekistan. Almost half of them died in exile, constituting what is legally defined as genocide. Many returned to their homeland after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Crimean Tatars are loyal Ukrainian citizens. They volunteered in the Maidan revolution and formed a battalion to fight in the Russian invasion in the east of Ukraine.
The Russian government invaded and illegally occupied the Crimean peninsula in 2014 through a military invasion and brute force. The Russian government occupying Crimea has officially banned any public commemoration of the 1944 genocide. Since March 2014, the Russian government began an organized oppression of Crimean Tatars that led to a large number of internally displaced persons migrating north to central and western Ukraine, and to Turkey.
An official report by the OSCE stated that that “Fundamental freedoms of assembly, association, expression and movement have all been restricted by the de facto authorities in Crimea.” Many have been arrested or killed, schools and publishing houses have been closed, and armed raids on mosques during religious services have been conducted with increasing frequency.
A number of international bodies, including the European Parliament, have already condemned the Kremlin’s treatment of the Crimean Tatars. If the Crimean Tatars are to survive, Western governments must do more to help.
The majority vote that supported Jamala’s song “1944” at the Eurovision contest was a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion and illegal occupation of Crimea in March 2014. This invasion and illegal occupation by Russia is the first such breach of a sovereign European nation’s border since the end of the Second World War. It is an outrageous provocation and challenge to the world order.
Ukrainian Americans stand in solidarity with the Crimean Tatar community, and state their support of the rights of Crimean Tatars in their homeland. We underline the international position that Crimea is part of Ukraine and that the illegal Russian occupation is a clear violation of international law and a violation of state sovereignty.
The Ukrainian American community condemns the invasion and occupation of Crimea and the persecution of the Crimean Tatar community on its native land. Slava Ukraini! Long Live the Crimean Tatar nation!