Russian occupation forces Crimean Tatars to hold memorial outside of homeland
#SaveCrimeanTatars: The Muslim minority group fears further repression under Crimea’s Kremlin-appointed authorities
Crimean Tatars will today mark 71 years since Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin deported their indigenous population to Central Asia in 1944.
For the first time in 20 years, commemorations are not being held in the Crimean peninsula after Russian forces seized and annexed the Black Sea territory in March 2014.
Instead, vigils were held over the weekend in cities including Kyiv and Lviv, where dozens of Crimean Tatars and local residents lit candles to mourn the tens of thousands who died on the journey or in the first years in exile, after being accused of being Nazi collaborators.
Rally participant: “This anniversary is like the previous ones because it always shows the pain of my people who feel it not only on this day. But today, we pay tribute to all the victims. It is a reminder of the tragedy that happened”
Less than 25 years after the Soviet Union’s collapse allowed Crimean Tatars to return to their homeland, their group fears being repressed one again – this time, by the Kremlin-appointment authorities in the region. Since early last year, members of their minority group have been kidnapped and murdered, their leaders expelled, regional assembly raided and ATR, the only Crimean Tatar TV channel, shut down.
Their group largely boycotted a sham referendum on seceding from Ukraine after Russian troops without insignia (known as ‘little green men’) took over key government buildings and military bases. President Vladimir Putin initially denied Russian Special Forces were involved in the invasion – but later confessed they actually were after the largely internationally unrecognized vote was held.
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