Georgia, five other states, condemn deportation of Crimean Tatars 76 years ago
The foreign ministers of Georgia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have released a joint statement to commemorate the deportation of Crimean Tatars from the peninsula on May 18, 1944.
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The foreign ministers of Georgia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have commemorated and condemned the ‘criminal deportation’ of the Tatar people from Crimea by Soviet regime 76 years ago.
The joint statement reads that on the day in 1944, the Soviet regime deported Tatars from their historic homeland - Crimea - to distant regions of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.
Just in the first years of exile almost half of all deported Crimean Tatars died. The period of the ban on return to the homeland - to Crimea -lasted until 1989 and was accompanied by purposeful linguistic and cultural assimilation,” said the statement.
The statement says that the tragedy of the Crimean Tatar people repeated in 2014, ‘when Russia seized and illegally attempted to annex Crimea, which is an integral part of Ukraine.’
Joint statement by foreign ministers of ????????Ukraine, ????????Estonia @MFAestonia, ????????Georgia @MFAgovge, ????????Latvia @Latvian_MFA, ????????Lithuania @LithuaniaMFA and ????????Poland @PolandMFA on the 76th anniversary of the Crimean Tatar people deportation: https://t.co/WeB739ogu3 pic.twitter.com/s7RZD5bdym
— MFA of Ukraine ???????? (@MFA_Ukraine) May 18, 2020
The ministers stated that ‘it is no coincidence’ that Russia, which ‘glorifies Stalin's totalitarian regime, continues its criminal policy’ in the 21st century in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The foreign ministers of the six countries said ‘we honour the memory of the numerous innocent victims of Stalin's deportation of the Crimean Tatar people.’
“We emphasise the inviolability of sovereignty, territorial integrity within the internationally recognised borders and political independence of Ukraine.We condemn Russia's aggressive policy towards Ukraine and new repressions against the Crimean Tatar people,” said the statement.
The ministers called upon Russia to stop violations of the fundamental principles of international law and comply with the demands of the international community regarding the deoccupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.