Ukraine today honors memory of victims of genocide of Crimean Tatar people

The deportation of the Crimean Tatars began at 03:00 on May 18, 1944, and continued until early June (the first and largest wave ended on May 20), Ukrinform reports.

The official basis for the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people was the secret Resolution No. 5859 "On the Crimean Tatars" adopted by the State Defense Committee on May 11, 1944, which accused the Crimean Tatars of alleged mass treason and widespread collaboration during the occupation of Crimea by Hitler's forces.

According to official data (the so-called Lavrentiy Beria figures), 183,144 people were deported; according to Tatar sources, more than 400,000 were deported, of whom about 46% died within a year and a half. Some 32,000 NKVD officers took part in the punitive operation. People were given from a few minutes to half an hour to gather their belongings and were allowed to take only personal items, food, dishes, and household utensils. Most of their property was left behind and confiscated by the state. The majority of the deportees were sent to special settlements in Uzbekistan, some to the Gulag, and others to replenish the special labor contingent for the Moscow coal basin.

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In Lviv, people honored the memory of the victims of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people / Photo: Lviv City Council

The deportation was one of the methods used to "de-Tatarize" Crimea. Other methods included the destruction of cultural and historical monuments and the replacement of historical place names with new Soviet-style names such as "Sovetsky," "Pervomaisk," and "Krasnogvardeysk." Migrants from Russia and other Soviet republics were resettled in Crimea. During the postwar period, the population of Crimea increased almost tenfold.

Stalin's policy toward the Crimean Tatars was not something new. As is well known, Russia's seizure of Crimea in 1783 led to the decline of cultural life on the peninsula: many ancient manuscripts were barbarically burned, and numerous architectural monuments were destroyed. It was then that the first settlement of Crimea by Russians and foreign colonists began, along with the strengthening of harsh Russification policies. After Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954, a decree on the rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars was issued in 1956 (though it was unpublished), but it effectively denied them the right to return to their homeland. The mass return of Crimean Tatars to Crimea only began in the late 1980s.

In December 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet totalitarian regime as genocide and established May 18 as the "Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide." Later, the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic also recognized the deportation of the Crimean Tatars as genocide.

At the same time, 12 years ago the Russian Federation occupied Ukrainian Crimea. Since then, more than 50,000 Crimean Tatars have been forced to leave the peninsula, and many have been banned by the Russian authorities from entering Crimea.

On May 14, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada called on foreign governments and parliaments, international organizations, and parliamentary assemblies to honor the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people, recognize the 1944 deportation as an act of genocide, and unite efforts to stop Russia's violations of Crimean Tatars' rights. The corresponding Resolution No. 15227 was adopted with 272 votes.

On May 12, an exhibition dedicated to one of the gravest crimes of the Soviet regime — the 82nd anniversary of the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar people — opened in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

On May 17, a rally marking the 82nd anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people took place in the Turkish capital, where participants honored the victims of the tragedy and stressed the need to restore historical justice.

Memorial events were also held in the regions. In Vinnytsia, on May 18, people honored the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people by raising the national flag of the Crimean Tatar people. "On May 18, Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People. In Vinnytsia, the national flag of the Crimean Tatar people was raised as a sign of support for the struggle for the rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatars," the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration said.

According to the statement, the event was attended by the heads of the regional military administration and regional council, representatives of the Crimean Tatar community, students, schoolchildren, and city residents. The honor of raising the national flag of the Crimean Tatar people was given to Feride and Suleiman Rasulov.

Children recited the poem "Kirimda Kaldi" ("What We Left Behind in Crimea").

Meanwhile, in Lviv, representatives of the Crimean Tatar community and city officials also honored the victims of the Crimean Tatar genocide near the city hall.

According to the Lviv City Council, the commemoration began with the performance of the National Anthem of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar national anthem "Ant Etkenmen." First Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko joined the event. "Today is a sad day in the history of our state and our peoples. We are here today because many people, in the struggle for our independence, unfortunately lost their lives. It is our duty to remember them — the dozens of people we knew and those we did not know. What we can do today is continue the struggle," Moskalenko said.

People's Artist of Ukraine Dzhemil Karikov emphasized that despite oppression and deportation, the Crimean Tatars preserved their language, religion, culture, traditions, and memory of their homeland. "These were extremely difficult years: some lived in tents and later built their own homes on vacant land. But even under such circumstances, returning to Crimea meant returning home — to one's roots and dignity," Karikov noted.

After the speeches, a representative of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea, Imam Edem Basnayev, held a joint prayer for the victims of the deportation and for all those who are currently fighting for the freedom of Ukraine and Crimea.