Georgia Joins Statement on 76th Anniversary of Crimean Tatar People Deportation

On May 18, Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland issued a joint statement on the 76th anniversary since “the Soviet regime criminally deported the Crimean Tatar people from the territory of their historic residence.”

Stressing that in the first years of exile almost half of all deported Crimean Tatars died, the six Foreign Ministers said “the period of the ban on return to the homeland – to Crimea, lasted until 1989 and was accompanied by purposeful linguistic and cultural assimilation.”

“The tragedy of the Crimean Tatar people repeated in 2014, when the Russian Federation seized and illegally attempted to annex Crimea, which is an integral part of Ukraine,” the statement reads.

Honoring the memory of “numerous innocent victims of Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tatar people,” the six foreign ministers expressed their support to the Crimean Tatar people “in their struggle for their rights.”

According to the Foreign Ministers, “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,” with persecuting the Crimean Tatars who opposed Russian aggression and forcing thousands of them to leave their homes and move to mainland Ukraine.

Condemning “Russia’s aggressive policy towards Ukraine and new repressions against the Crimean Tatar people,” the statement emphasized the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders.

Stating that “Crimea is Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministers called on Moscow to “comply with the demands of the international community” on the de-occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

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