On May 18 we gathered to remember the innocent victims of the deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet government in 1944. On that night, 73 years ago, women, children, and elderly were forcibly deported to Central Asia and Siberia, while their husbands, fathers, and sons were fighting against the Nazis alongside the Allied forces. The inhumane transportation conditions and later starvation killed almost half of the Crimean Tatar population. The Soviet Union never allowed the deportees to return to their homeland. Only after the collapse of USSR, were Crimean Tatars able to start building their new lives on the peninsula.
Now, with the Russian occupation forces controlling the land, Crimean Tatars are once again facing false accusations and repressions. As we meet to commemorate the victims of the deportation, we know that Crimean Tatars in Crimea are unable to do so
