World Bulletin / News Desk

Ukrainian parliament approved Wednesday an appeal to the international community and organizations to recognize the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.

The parliament also called to condemn Russian violations of rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people.

The appeal is primarily addressed to the main international organizations such as the United Nations, OSCE, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Parliament.

In the statement, the Ukrainian parliament called on the international community to recognize the deportation of Crimean Tatars of 1944 as genocide, and join activities to commemorating its victims on the deportation's anniversary on May 18.

At the same time, the parliament urged the international organizations to condemn the Russian-imposed ban on the activities of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis and the violations of rights of the Crimean Tatar people, which the parliament dubbed as "ethnocide".

"The systematic pressure against the Crimean Tatar people, the repression of Ukrainian citizens on a national identity basis, the organization of ethnically and politically motivated prosecutions of the Crimean Tatars and their organs, such as the Mejlis and Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine by the public authorities of the Russian Federation, is a conscious policy of ethnocide against the Crimean Tatar people," the statement said.

On May 18, 1944, the Soviet authorities have forcibly deported the entirety of Crimean Tatars from the Crimean peninsula, their historic homeland. During and as a result of the deportation 46 percent of Crimean Tatar population were killed.

Last Mod: 11 Mayıs 2016, 13:38