From https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/-deportation-of-crimean-tatars-in-1944-was-genocide-/1865274
‘Deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 was genocide’
Crimean Tatars were kept in extremely harsh conditions, and half of them were killed, says foreign policy expert
Gozde Bayar |04.06.2020
ANKARA
The Soviet Union’s brutal 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars bears all the hallmarks of genocide, according to a foreign policy expert.
Hakan Kirimli, a political scientist at Bilkent University in Turkey's capital Ankara, told Anadolu Agency that on May 18, 1944, the Soviet Union exiled all the Tatars from Crimea, leaving not a single one.
“They were kept in extremely harsh conditions where they were sent, and half of them were killed,” Kirimli added.
Describing the deportation as a “genocide,” Kirimli said: “They wanted the Crimean Tatars to completely disappear from history, and they even removed the phrase 'Crimean Tatar' from the records, saying that there would be no such people again.”
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill calling on the UN and international organizations to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatars as genocide.
Genocide was first recognized as a crime under international law in 1946 by the UN General Assembly, saying it involves “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
Kirimli, who is of Crimean Tatar descent, said that during the deportation, groups of about 300 Crimean Tatars were put in a covered wagon “like a sack of potatoes” with no room to move.
“Imagine that your child, brother, or grandfather is dying in front of your eyes. His dead body continues standing with you because there’s no room on the floor,” Kirimli said, adding that these deportation journeys took nearly 20-25 days.
The aim was to completely destroy these people and turn Crimea into purely Russian territory, he stressed.
Underscoring that the Crimean Tatars struggled democratically and non-violently against the Soviet Union for 30-40 years, he said they returned to their homeland in harsh conditions, especially after the dissolution of the USSR.
Russian annexation of Crimea
Kirimli went on to say that commemorating the 1944 events without condemning the recent Russian occupation of Crimea shows “great insincerity.”
Denouncing the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, he said the “inhuman and illegal” occupation has continued in Crimean territory for six years now.
“Nearly 50,000 Crimean Tatars used to gather in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, to commemorate the deportation. Now, not even three people could come together to commemorate it,” he added.
He said Crimean Tatars are not allowed to commemorate or talk about the exile on pain of 15-20 years in prison as penalty.
“Almost all schools and media outlets of the Crimean Tatars were closed,” he said, underlining that opinion leaders were either deported from Crimea, detained, or jailed.
The annexation was a crime against humanity and violation of international law, he said calling on the international community to toughen sanctions against Russia.
“If there were no real sanctions and Russia were not punished by the international public, these people [native Crimeans] would disappear and international law would be trampled on,” he added.
Six years have passed since Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine the Crimean Peninsula on the northern end of the Black Sea, largely populated by Crimean Tatars.
Russian forces entered the peninsula in February 2014, with Russian President Vladimir Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.
Since then, Crimean Tatars have continued their struggle for Ukraine's territorial integrity against Russian occupation.
Crimea's ethnic Tatars have faced persecution since Russia’s 2014 takeover of the peninsula, a situation Turkey has decried.
Turkey and the U.S., as well as the UN General Assembly, view the annexation as illegal.
From Stalin to Putin: The Crimean Tatars face a new era of Kremlin persecution
This week marks 76 years since Stalin deported nearly 200,000 Crimean Tatars from their homeland, but there will be no major commemorative events in their native Crimea. Ever since Russia’s illegal annexation in 2014, the peninsula’s indigenous people, the Crimean Tatars, have been denied the right to publicly remember their mass deportation. This ban on remembrance is just one particularly visible aspect of a far broader persecution campaign by the Russian occupation authorities that offers distressing echoes of Soviet crimes against humanity.
When the shock of Vladimir Putin’s Crimean crime was still fresh, the plight of the peninsula’s Crimean Tatar population generated considerable international attention. However, as the Russian occupation enters its seventh year with no end in sight, the fate of Crimea’s indigenous people is now in danger of fading from view. Despite grand promises made at last year’s deportation anniversary events, there has been little or no progress over the past twelve months towards addressing the ongoing attacks on the Crimean Tatars’ fundamental freedoms and the smothering of their collective memory, culture, and heritage.
Today’s low levels of international awareness reflect Crimea’s general disappearance from the geopolitical radar. Indeed, merely getting reliable information about the current situation on the peninsula is immensely challenging. Journalists, writers, and other truth-tellers have been silenced over the last six years. Ukrainian human rights NGOs have documented 369 cases of violations of free expression; the number of independent media outlets has decreased by around 90 percent; Ukrainian TV channels and radio stations have been denied the right to broadcast; and dozens of Ukrainian news websites have been blocked. Meanwhile, the international media is denied access altogether or closely chaperoned and prevented from challenging official Kremlin narratives.
Nevertheless, the fragmented and partial picture that does emerge is enough to set alarm bells ringing. The Russian occupation authorities in Crimea have detained and physically abused Crimean Tatars, raided their homes, and created an atmosphere of fear, trauma, and intimidation. Human rights organizations have officially documented at least 1500 violent incidents. Alongside a campaign of political persecution targeting today’s Crimean Tatar community, the Russian authorities have also sought to wipe out Crimean Tatar culture, heritage, identity, and memory.
Why is Russia persecuting the Crimean Tatars?
Ever since the Russian operation to seize control of Crimea began in February 2014, the Crimean Tatar community has consistently opposed the Kremlin takeover. Most Crimean Tatars boycotted the fig leaf “referendum” staged by Russia in March 2014 to legitimize the military seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula. Alim Aliev, director at Crimean House, an institution dedicated to preserving and promoting Crimean Tatar culture, explained this opposition by commenting, “Accepting the occupation of Crimea for us is like cutting off our right hand and saying that it is not needed.”
The Russian government, in need of pseudo-legal cover for its attacks on Crimean Tatars, has tarred them as terrorists and extremists. Many Crimean Tatars identify as Muslim. In 2016, Russia declared the Crimean Tatars’ historic self-governing body, the Mejlis, an extremist organization and abolished it. Dozens of Crimean Tatars have faced what Human Rights Watch calls “trumped up terrorism charges.” Authorities claim some Crimean Tatars are members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization banned in Russia but not in Ukraine.
Despite claiming to be confronting militant Islam and other forms of extremism, Russia has launched attacks on a wide variety of Crimean Tatars who have spoken out against the occupation including journalists, photographers, and activists. These groups have formed the most visible and direct opposition to Russia’s occupation. Many have self-organized in the Crimean Solidarity movement. According to Freedom House, there are currently ten civic journalists imprisoned under spurious charges.
How has the Ukrainian government reacted to this ongoing repression of its citizens? With so many Crimean Tatar political prisoners behind bars, families were disappointed when the last prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia in April this year did not include a single Crimean Tatar. In response, some members of the community initiated an online flashmob asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to finally “talk to them.”
Despite Russian attempts to paint Crimean Tatars as terrorists, the parents, wives, and relatives of those imprisoned have chosen non-violent ways to resist. They have organized robust support campaigns and rallies for their loved ones. Several prominent women activists have played key roles in these efforts. Lutfiye Zudiyeva is a children’s rights activist who has advocated on behalf of children whose fathers have been illegally imprisoned. Zudiyeva has been vocal about the need to reestablish investigative and professional journalism in Crimea, and has endured harassment and detention after participating in international advocacy campaigns.
Mumine Saliyeva, the coordinator of the Crimean Childhood NGO and wife of political prisoner Seiran Saliyev, was charged in 2019 alongside Zudiyeva for spreading “propaganda using extremist symbols” after organizing solidarity events. For years, these women have continued their advocacy around the world, fighting both for the return of their loved ones and the preservation of their traditions and culture.
Crimean Tatars now desperately need allies in Ukraine, in the rest of Europe, and around the globe. The US and European governments must acknowledge that Russia, as part of its annexation strategy, is ruthlessly repressing the rights of Crimean Tatars and attempting to quash their identity. And people all over the world need to speak out in defense of the many Crimean Tatars who are currently being held as political prisoners by Russia.
As the Crimean Tatar community marks the seventy-sixth anniversary of their Soviet deportation this week, an entire generation faces the prospect of another year living in terror at home or forced into exile. Much as the community had feared in 2014, history is indeed repeating itself. It is now up to the outside world to hold Putin accountable and prevent a sequel to one of twentieth century totalitarianism’s darkest chapters.
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