Denied the right to a home: On May 18 Ukraine commemorates the victims of the deportation of Crimean Tatars

18 May 1944 became one of the most tragic dates in the history of the Crimean Tatar people. It was on this day that the Soviet regime began the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars from their native Crimea, attempting to tear an entire people from their land, memory and history.

Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly taken from their homes in freight wagons. Many were not given the chance to pack their belongings, say goodbye to loved ones, or even understand where they were being taken. For thousands of families this journey became a road of no return: people died en route, from hunger, disease, exhaustion and inhumane conditions. The deportation was not merely resettlement. It was a planned crime against an entire people whose roots were attempted to be broken, whose home was taken and whose future was stolen. The Soviet authorities wanted to erase the Crimean Tatars from Crimea, but they could not erase their memory, language, culture and their right to their land.

Despite decades of exile, the Crimean Tatar community endured. People preserved their identity in families, in memories, and in the struggle for return. They returned to Crimea not as guests, but as a people for whom this land was and remains home.

Today this memory has special significance. Crimea is again under Russian occupation, and Crimean Tatars again face pressure, persecution and attempts to silence them. But the history of 1944 proved: a people who preserved themselves after exile cannot be broken by fear.

Ukraine honors the memory of all whose lives were taken by the deportation, and all who went through this crime to the end. It is not only a day of mourning, but also a day of solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, who continue to fight for their home. Ukrainian Crimea – this is not a political slogan, but the right of people to live on their land without occupation, repression and fear. The memory of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars reminds us: empires can carry people away from their homes, but they cannot take away the truth forever.

We remember.

Reminder: earlier we wrote:

• Zelensky on the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars said he believes in the liberation of Crimea from occupation
• On 18 May in Mykolaiv they will mark the 73rd anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars
• Peace or capitulation? Ukraine was warned about a new US policy regarding Crimea
• Mykolaiv commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Day of Remembrance of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol
• RNBO Secretary Danilov proposed 12 steps for the de-occupation of Crimea
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine planned a military operation to liberate Crimea in 2014, – Marchenko