The Ukrainian Parliament is calling on the U.N. and the E.U. to recognise the mass expulsion of Crimean Tatars, organised by the Soviet Union in 1944, as a genocide of the ethnicity.

The country's lawmakers say, the world needs to condemn "the past and present crimes", committed by the Russian authorities against the Tatars.

"The Parliament is urging every state and international organisation to join the commemoration of the victims of the Crimean Tatars genocide, organised by the Communist regime", Ukrainian officials say.

The deputies also claim Russia must be held responsible for illegal occupation of Crimea and continuous discrimination of the indigenous people.

"We demand that Russia stop its policy, aimed at violating the rights and freedoms of people in Crimea. We are calling on the international society to condemn the recent prohibition of Crimean Tatars Mejlis", the Ukrainian lawmakers say.

According to Ukraine and the West, Russia has been oppressing the Tatars since the day it occupied the peninsula. Various human rights groups have slammed the prohibition of Mejlis and mass arrests and detentions of independent journalists and local critics.

Source: Ukraine Today