Foreign Ministry: Turkey to continue to support Crimean Tatars

“77 years after the exile, Crimean Tatar Turks are challenged by the hardships created by the illegal annexation of Crimea. Turkey will continue to stand by its kinsmen in their struggle to overcome their aggrievement, attain peace and prosperity, and to protect their identities,” reads the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

As noted, on the night of 18 May 1944, 250 thousand Crimean Tatars were torn from their ancestral homeland and exiled under inhumane conditions. A large number of Crimean Tatars lost their lives during this tragic event and those who survived were forced to live yearning for their homeland.

“We also commemorate 21 May as the 157th anniversary of the ‘Circassian Exile’ in which people of the Caucasus were forced to leave their homelands during the invasion of Tsarist Russia to seek shelter in Anatolia, suffering great losses,” the statement says.

Ukraine and the world honour the memory of victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people annually on May 18. The deportation of Crimean Tatars began on May 18, 1944, and generally lasted until early June, while the first and largest wave ended on May 20.

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