May 22, 2015

FOR THE RECORD: UCC statement on the anniversary of the Crimean Tatars’ deportation

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The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) issued the following statement on the May 18 anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people.

May 18 marks the 71st anniversary of the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatar people from their ancestral homeland by the totalitarian regime of Joseph Stalin. The entire Crimean Tatar people, the indigenous people of Crimea, were exiled to the Soviet east in 1944. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were forcibly and violently deported – almost half lost their lives during the first year of exile – for no crime other than their language, culture and traditions. They were not allowed to return to Crimea for almost 50 years. As Crimean Tatars mourn their ancestors, we join them in grief and solemn remembrance.

Today, the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine, which is the ancestral home of the Crimean Tatar people has been invaded and illegally occupied by the Russian Federation. Crimean Tatars are once again subject to brutal violence, repressions, arrests and attacks on their rights and freedoms by the ruthless dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. We draw inspiration from their brave resistance to this cruel occupation. We join all civilized nations in condemning the Russian Federation’s oppressive occupation of the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine.

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