Activists urge Bundestag to acknowledge 1944 Crimean Tatar deportation as genocide
Activists are gathering votes for a petition to the Bundestag to have the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 officially recognized as genocide.
According to Ukrinform, the signature collection will continue until October 22. People can sign on the Bundestag's website or mail their signatures.
The petition was initiated by the Crimean Cultural Center "KERMEN" in Germany (Krimer-Kulturzentrum «KERMEN»).
According to the founder of the organization, Elvis Çolpuh, for many, Crimea is the sea, mountains, and resorts, but for the Crimean Tatar people, it is the only home.
"The Crimeans (Crimean Tatars) have no other homeland than Crimea," Çolpuh notes.
On May 18, 1944, at Stalin's command, the native population of Crimea – the Crimeans (also known as Crimean Tatars) – were brutally expelled. Around 200,000 women, children, and elderly individuals were forced onto cattle cars and sent to remote areas of Siberia and Central Asia to be used as laborers.
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Over 46% of Crimeans (Crimean Tatars) died in the first years of deportation from hunger, disease, hard labor, and inhumane living conditions.
"Genocide is a crime without a statute of limitations. The heirs of the criminal regime have not yet borne responsibility for what they have done. That is why it is essential to draw the attention of the world community to the genocides and repressions against the indigenous people of Crimea that are taking place to this day," Çolpuh emphasizes.
In general, for the past three centuries, the Russian state has pursued a purposeful policy of colonizing Crimea and exterminating the indigenous population of the peninsula.
"Today, 80 years after the tragic date, we draw the attention of the entire world community, all civilized countries, to the problems of the Crimean Tatars and demand to recognize the deportation of the people, destroyed by a purposeful policy on national grounds," the activists call.
The civilized world condemned the genocide, recognizing it as a crime against humanity.
For reference:
It should be noted that on May 8 this year, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] adopted an appeal to the governments and parliaments of foreign countries, international organizations, and parliamentary assemblies in connection with the 80th anniversary of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 as an act of genocide.
Today, guided by the provisions of the UN Convention, the mass deportation of Crimeans (Crimean Tatars) was recognized as genocide by Ukraine (2015), Latvia, Lithuania (2019), Canada (2022), and Poland (2024).
