Crimean Tatars leave peninsula because of unprecedented persecution – CrimeaSOS

Tamila Tasheva, the co-founder and coordinator of CrimeaSOS social initiative, said this during the discussion that was devoted to commemorating the victims of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people on May 18, 1944.

"Since the beginning of the occupation and further annexation of Crimea, about 55,000 people, including almost 25,000 Crimean Tatars, have left the peninsula. All of them begin to settle in different parts of Ukraine. A very large number of Crimean Tatars settled in Lviv, Kyiv and Kherson region," Tasheva said.

At the same time, she has stressed that the reasons of mass exodus lie not in economic difficulties.

"The Crimean Tatars leave Crimea because of unprecedented persecution. This is something we have never seen before. At least 19 people are now missing or kidnapped. About 60 criminal cases have been opened. 40 people have been imprisoned. 20 people have been released from custody on condition not to leave a town or house arrest. Dozens of searches take place every week. During the occupation of Crimea, several hundred searches were held," she noted.

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