Mejlis links 1944 Crimean Tatars genocide to today’s Russian occupation

May 19 marks the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide - the day when back in 1944 (from May 18-20), ordered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, at least 191k Crimean Tatars were forcibly deported to the Uzbek SSR, with more than 8k dying on their way there.

In a statement published on the Mejlis’ official website, the officials emphasized that the mass deportation of 1944 was a deliberate attempt to annihilate the Crimean Tatar people. Today, the community is once again facing political arrests, persecution, and the systematic erasure of its cultural identity.

The Mejlis called on the international community to officially recognize the 1944 deportation as an act of genocide, intensify sanctions against Russia, and support the de-occupation of Crimea. It also stressed the urgent need to establish a Crimean Tatar national-territorial autonomy within a sovereign Ukraine and to formally enshrine the Mejlis as the official representative body of the Crimean Tatar people.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs backed the Mejlis’ statement, noting that modern-day Russia is continuing Stalinist policies aimed at displacing Crimean Tatars from their homeland. The ministry urged foreign governments to recognize the deportation as genocide, both to restore historical justice and to stand in solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people.