18-05-2025
Remembrance Day of the Victims of the Genocide against the Crimean Tatars
Myroslava Shcherbatiuk- Ambassador of Ukraine to Jordan May 18 is designated by the Ukrainian parliament as the Remembrance Day of the victims of the genocide of the indigenous Muslim people of Crimea – Crimean Tatars.
On this day in 1944 the Soviet totalitarian regime committed one of the gravest crimes in its history — the forced mass deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar people from their historical homeland - Crimea. Acting on Joseph Stalin's personal order, the Soviet authorities decided to «completely cleanse» the peninsula of Crimean Tatars. This was an act of ethnic cleansing aimed at destroying the Crimean Tatars as an Indigenous people and national community, thereby enabling the full-scale colonization of the region. This crime was particularly devious, as the majority of the victims were women, children, and the elderly, while thousands of Crimean Tatar men were serving on the front lines of the World War II as part of the Red Army.
At dawn of May 18 a large-scale operation by the NKVD (KGB) began simultaneously across Crimea. Armed officers stormed into homes, giving families only 10-20 minutes to gather their belongings before being forcibly expelled.
By May 20, the Soviet authorities deported to remote regions of the Soviet Union by freight trains in total over 190 thousand Crimean Tatars, including more than 92,000 children under the age of 16. Deportees were transported in overcrowded cattle cars, without access to food, clean water or medical care. The journey to these remote settlements typically lasted two to three weeks.
During the transportation alone from 7,000 to 8,000 people died from thirst, disease, exhaustion and the inhumane conditions.
Upon arrival in exile Crimean Tatars faced forced labor, starvation, unsanitary conditions, widespread disease and total social isolation. They were resettled in specially designated, segregated areas known as «special settlements», which were operating as Soviet reservations. These settlements were subject to strict surveillance: mandatory registration at commandants' offices, prohibition from leaving the area and constant oversight by repressive authorities.
Being a Crimean Tatar was a sentence, as these people were given the status of «special settlers» which entailed lifelong discrimination, restriction of basic rights such as freedom of movement, access to education, healthcare and employment in qualified professions. In Uzbekistan alone, according to official Soviet records, approximately 30,000 Crimean Tatars died within the first 18 months. In some areas, mortality rates reached 60–70%. According to the Crimean Tatar national movement, the actual death toll was likely even higher.
Any attempt to leave the settlements could result in arrest, and repeated violations were punishable by up to 20 years of hard labor. In addition, nearly 6,000 individuals were sent directly to GULAG labor camps.
Following the mass expulsion, the Soviet regime began erasing every trace of the Crimean Tatar presence in Crimea. The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was turned into a regular administrative region. Crimean Tatar toponyms were russified, mosques were destroyed or converted into utility buildings, and settlers from other Soviet republics were relocated to the homes of the deportees. The Crimean Tatar language, literature, historical documents and cultural artifacts were systematically destroyed or replaced with Russian ones. Even mentioning the deportation — known as Sürgünlik — was prohibited, and the term «Crimean Tatar» itself was nearly eliminated from the public use.
Following the death of Joseph Stalin and the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars were still denied the right to return to their homeland — Crimea. In effect, their forced exile became indefinite. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, a national movement emerged, advocating for the restoration of Crimean Tatars' rights and their return to their homeland. The movement employed peaceful methods: public appeals, large-scale petition campaigns, non-violent protests and unauthorized returns to Crimea despite the official ban. It became one of the most extensive and longest-running human rights movements in the Soviet Union. In July 1987 hundreds of Crimean Tatars staged demonstrations on the Red Square in Moscow, publicly demanding the right to return. Under sustained public pressure in 1989 the Soviet authorities finally lifted the formal ban on Crimean Tatars residing in Crimea.
After this decision a mass return of Crimean Tatars to their homeland began. By the late 1980s and especially in 1990–1991, thousands of families began their journey to homeland. The return was spontaneous and extremely difficult: the state provided no housing or support. Many families had to live in tents, dugouts or temporary shelters, building homes and infrastructure on their own. In response to bureaucratic resistance, particularly regarding land allocation, the community organized itself and founded around 300 new settlements in Crimea.
In 1991 the institutional representation of the Crimean Tatar people was restored. On 26 June 1991 the historic Second Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People was held in Simferopol, reviving the tradition of the national self-governance which began in 1917. The Qurultay proclaimed the restoration of the people's right to self-governance in Crimea and established the representative body — the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People. The Mejlis became the legitimate voice of Crimean Tatars and worked with Ukrainian state authorities and the international community on issues of repatriation, restitution of property rights, education, language, and cultural development.
Upon returning home, the Crimean Tatar people actively engaged in reviving their culture, language, and religious life, despite significant initial challenges. In the early years of repatriation, the Crimean Tatar Drama Theatre resumed its work, the folk ensemble Qırım was founded, and institutions such as the Ismail Hasprinskyi Library and the Museum of History and Culture of the Crimean Tatar People were established. The media began broadcasting and publishing in the Crimean Tatar language. Communities reopened mosques and reclaimed religious buildings that had been used as museums or warehouses under the Soviet rule. Schools were established with the tuition in Crimean Tatar language.
After the Russian Federation occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014, the genocidal practices initiated during the Soviet period were revived. The Russian occupation administration launched the systematic campaign of pressure, persecution, and displacement targeting the Crimean Tatar community — one of the most prominent centers of the non-violent resistance to the occupation. From the very beginning, the actions of the Russian occupation regime were aimed at destroying the identity, culture, political rights of this indigenous people of Ukraine in Crimea.
In the first years of the Russian occupation the activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People — the legitimate representative body recognized by the international community — were banned. In 2016 a Russian court designated the Mejlis as an «extremist organization» depriving Crimean Tatars of the right to collective representation. Peaceful assemblies - including commemorative events marking the anniversary of the 1944 deportation on 18 May – as well as the use of the Crimean Tatar symbols, and public remembrance of genocide victims were either banned or severely restricted. Prominent leaders, activists and human rights advocates were forced to leave Crimea, while others became targets of criminal prosecution, political pressure and smear campaigns in the media.
Russian security forces in occupied Crimea carry out systematic searches of Crimean Tatar homes, arrests on fabricated charges, torture, abuse, and enforced disappearances. One of the key tools of the repression is prosecution of Crimean Tatars based on accusations of involvement in extremist organizations. Dozens of Crimean Tatars received lengthy sentences (up to 17–20 years) for alleged terrorism without any proof. Among the victims of such cases are journalists, human rights advocates, members of the Crimean Solidarity movement, and other pro-Ukrainian activists.
At the same time, the occupation administration pursues the deliberate policy of cultural erasure and forced assimilation. All independent Crimean Tatar media outlets, including the ATR channel were shut down. Opportunities to receive education in the Crimean Tatar language were severely reduced, and history programs in schools were altered in order to reflect the Russian imperial interpretations. Traditional cultural events were banned and the public use of the Crimean Tatar language, symbols and religious practices are increasingly restricted.
All these repressive actions occur against the backdrop of demographic shifts: thousands of Crimean Tatars are once again being forced to leave their homeland due to the atmosphere of fear, continuous searches, political persecution, and compulsory military conscription. In parallel, the Russian Federation is actively resettling its own citizens to the occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea. This involves hundreds of thousands of people, which constitutes a direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and an act that qualifies as a war crime.
This policy of «hybrid» deportation serves the same purpose as previous repressive campaigns of the Soviet time: to erase the Crimean Tatar presence in Crimea and create a false image of the «Russian» Crimea.
On November 12, 2015 the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine officially recognized the deportation of the Crimean Tatars as an act of genocide and condemned the policy of the Soviet totalitarian regime in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Parliaments of Latvia and Lithuania (2019), Canada (2022), as well as Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic (2024) adopted resolutions recognizing the Soviet regime's actions against the Crimean Tatar people as genocide. These resolutions also explicitly condemn the Russian Federation's ongoing repressive policies against Crimean Tatars in the context of the ongoing Russian occupation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Ukraine continues to actively engage with governments and international organizations calling for a comprehensive legal and moral assessment of the events of 1944 and classification of the Crimean Tatar tragedy as genocide.
One of the priorities of the foreign policy of Ukraine is the de-occupation of Crimea and protection of the rights of Crimean Tatars. Only the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea - and the guarantee of the rights of its indigenous people - can ensure that Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and other citizens of Ukraine can live freely.
