President gives commission to investigate the 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars
President Viktor Yushchenko has instructed the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to institute proceedings on the fact of illegal eviction of the Crimean Tartar people and other nations in 1944, who lived in Crimea those times (South Ukraine).
"The Head of State believes that the fact of the illegal forced large-scale eviction of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 is unquestionable. A fact of deportation of other nations lived in Crimea was also established, these are mainly Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians and others," presidential press secretary Iryna Vannykova said.
According to her, the President is confident that there are signs of genocide in the actions of then-leadership of the Communist regime led by Joseph Stalin and officials of the USSR punitive agencies.
The deportation of the Crimean Tatars started on May 18, 1944 to last till May 20. A major part of people were evicted to Uzbekistan (151,136 persons) and adjacent districts of Kazakhstan (4,286) and Tajikistan. The largest groups were sent to the Soviet Mari El Republic (8,597), Ural and Kostroma region.
A major part of the resettlers died of starvation and illnesses in the places of deportation in 1944-45. The number of the deceased strongly varies: from 15-25% according to various Soviet official bodies to 46% according to the estimates of the Crimean Tatar activists. Unlike other deported nations that had returned home in late 1950s, the Crimean Tatars were deprived of this right formally until 1974, and actually - until 1989. A large-scale return started only in late Perestroika in 1989.
By QHA
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