From now on May 18 is to be celebrated every year as the Ukrainian Crimean Tatars’ Rights defence Day. A respective decree is published on the President’s website.

“Taking into account that the Crimean Tatars face a new danger of discrimination on their native land 70 years after the former Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime deported them, and for the purpose of supporting the Crimean Tatars, citizens of Ukraine, in their efforts to defend their rights, and according to Art. 112 of the Constitution I order to establish the official Crimean Tatars’ rights defence day which is to be celebrated every year on May 18,” — the document reads.

The decree is on effect on the day it was published.

It bears reminding that mourning events are to be held in Kyiv and Lviv due to the 70th anniversary of deportation, starting on May 16.

Respective events also started in Crimea. They planned an All-Crimean mourning meeting on May 18 in Simferopol. However, on the eve of the deportation day the Crimean self-proclaimed “authorities” banned any public events up to June 6 and ordered the local executives and cultural organisations to cancel all the planned events, including this one.

The experts say that the crimean so-called “authorities” decided to take full control all the events on that day and limit any mourning events to the meeting at Simferopol central square, watched by the Russian special security forces “OMON”.