Kuleba calls on international community to recognize deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide

The diplomat said this at an online briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I’m calling on the international community to condemn this crime and recognize deportation as what it really was - the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people," Kuleba said.

He stressed that today Russia continues to suppress the Crimean Tatar people - suspends the Mejlis, ousts independent media from occupied Crimea, continues religious persecution, deprives Crimean Tatars of property and language rights, and fabricates criminal charges against them.

"But we will not give up and stop until these crimes are terminated, until Russia leaves Crimea, and all opportunities for free development and prosperity of the Crimean peninsula and the Crimean Tatar people are created there after the return of the Ukrainian government. In particular, the work of the Crimean platform will be devoted to this issue," the foreign minister stressed.

Today, on May 18, Ukraine honors the victims of deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and marks the Day of Struggle for the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People.

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