Czech Senate Recognises 1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars as Genocide

At a meeting on 18 December, the Senate of the Czech Republic condemned the genocide of Crimean Tatars by the Stalinist regime about 80 years ago, as well as the current repressions by the Russian regime after the occupation of Crimea in 2014, Ukrinform reports.

The Senate called the events of 80 years ago an act of genocide.

In the resolution, the Senate supported the activities of the Crimean Platform, which aims to overcome the consequences of Russia's occupation of Crimea at the international level and to find ways to return the peninsula to Ukraine's control.

‘We condemn the renewed repression of Crimean Tatars following the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, during which Russian state authorities systematically detain, torture, or abduct Crimean Tatars who are prohibited from learning or using their native language,’ said Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Paul Fischer.

He noted that Vladimir Putin's regime is doing to the Crimean Tatars what Joseph Stalin did in 1944, when he ordered the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars.

Representatives of the Crimean Tatar people and members of the Ukrainian parliament were invited to the meeting.

The leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Member of Parliament Mustafa Dzhemilev, thanked the senators for their decision. He called it an important moral support for Ukraine and the indigenous people of Crimea. Dzhemilev also reminded that today, just like then, the inhabitants of the peninsula are again forced to leave their homeland, and at least a million Russians have been brought in to replace them. He warned against freezing the conflict, which, he said, would only give the aggressor time to prepare for an even bloodier war.

On the same day, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament) of the Czech Republic, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, will meet with a delegation of Crimean Tatars led by MP Mustafa Dzhemilev.