Netherlands becomes the eighth country in the world to recognize deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide
20 June 11:23
The lower house of the Dutch parliament has recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“The House… considering that various countries have recognized the mass expulsion of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the Soviet Union as genocide; stating that since the illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014, many Crimean Tatars have been arbitrarily imprisoned or tortured or have gone missing; considering that Russia has thus most likely continued its policy of genocide against the Crimean Tatars;
expresses its position to recognize the mass expulsion of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide by modern standards and to condemn it,”
– the decision reads.
In addition, the Dutch parliament ordered the government to submit a proposal for appropriate recognition to other EU member states.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga thanked the Netherlands for this gesture and called on other countries to “be like the Netherlands.”
“This is a powerful gesture of solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, who are still being persecuted by Russia’s temporary occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Recognizing this historical injustice is critical not only to establish truth and justice, but also to prevent future crimes. I thank the Netherlands for becoming the seventh country outside of Ukraine to recognize this crime as genocide, and I call on all other countries to do the same.”
Andriy Sybiga, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
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Deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 and its recognition as genocide
on May 18, 1944, the Soviet authorities began a mass deportation of Crimean Tatars from the territory of Crimea. The operation was carried out by order of the USSR State Defense Committee, signed by Joseph Stalin, under the pretext of accusations of mass collaboration with the Nazis. According to official data, more than 190,000 people were forcibly evicted, almost the entire Crimean Tatar population of the peninsula. For several days, people were loaded into freight cars and transported mainly to Uzbekistan, as well as to remote areas of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The conditions of deportation were extremely harsh: according to various estimates, from 20% to 46% of all deportees died from lack of water, food and medical care during transportation and in the first years of exile. After the deportation, cultural monuments and place names were destroyed, and the language and ethnonym “Crimean Tatars” were banned.
Today, the deportation of 1944 is officially recognized as genocide of the Crimean Tatar people in Ukraine, with a resolution passed by the Verkhovna Rada in 2015. The genocide of the Crimean Tatars is also recognized by the governments of Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Poland, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People is commemorated annually on May 18.
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Why the deportation of the Crimean Tatars is not recognized as genocide by Turkey, a brotherly nation to the Crimeans, read Recognizing the Deportation of Crimean Tatars as Genocide: Why Turkey is Silent.
