Victims of the genocide of Crimean Tatars are commemorated in Ukraine and around the world on May 18, 2022
May 18, 2022, marks the 78th anniversary of the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their homeland on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. The Crimean Tatars’ ongoing struggle as victims of the Soviet ethnic cleansing under Stalin has been recognized as an act of genocide by Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania. This grave injustice is remembered every year worldwide.
On the morning of May 18, 1944, the Soviet government initiated a special operation in Crimea: the deportation of Crimean Tatars (Kirimli) to the Urals and Central Asia. World War II, which ended in May 1945, was still raging across Europe. In total, about 200,000 people were deported.
According to Rafat Chubarov, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, an international online rally in memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people is planned for May 18, 2022, at 16:00 Kyiv time.
“Among those present at the International Online Rally are members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, speakers and members of parliaments, public figures, representatives of the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian diasporas, servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, members of the Crimean Tatar People’s Mejlis,” Chubarov said.
Commemorative events on the anniversary of the Crimean Tatars’ deportation are also planned in Canada, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the United States, and Turkey.
