Seventy-nine years after a large group of indigenous Crimean Tatar Turks was exiled from their homeland under inhumane conditions by the erstwhile Soviet administration, the pain of the exile is still entrenched in many memories.
The policies on exile that began during the reign of Russian Tsarina Catherine II increased during the Soviet era, which maintained them in various ways.
During World War II, Soviet Russia had to leave Crimea to the Nazis. Crimean Tatar Turks successfully fought against Nazi Germany by joining the Soviet ranks. However, despite this, Russian commanders accused Crimean Tatars of "collaborating with Nazi Germany."
Reports were drafted for the Soviet administration against Crimean Tatars, which ultimately led to demands for the complete expulsion of Crimean Tatars from their homelands.
With the decision put in place by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at midnight on May 18, 1944, nearly 250,000 Crimean Tatar Turks were exiled to Central Asia in three days in wagons used for transporting animals.
Crimean Tatars, mostly elderly, children and women, were removed from their beds and loaded into the said wagons and were exiled to Central Asia between May 18-20, 1944, and left without food or water.
According to reports, half of those deported in wagons in inhumane conditions died before they could even reach their destinations.
Crimea, which was gifted to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after Stalin's reign, came under the control of Russia, which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
From the reign of Katerina II until the present day, many prominent names, including the people's leader of Crimean Tatar Turks, Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu, continue their struggle to remain in their homeland. Along with Kırımoğlu, Russia has imposed an entry ban in Crimea for many personalities.
The Crimean Tatars, who have kept the pain of the 1944 exile in their memories for 79 years, still continue to struggle to return to their homeland and take possession of their lands.
Continuing this struggle diplomatically in the international arena, Crimean Tatars in Ukraine are also experiencing difficulties due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Fearing Russian army attacks, many Crimean Tatar Turks in Ukraine had to leave their country and settle in Türkiye and other countries.
According to local media reports, those who lost their lives during the May 18, 1944 Crimean Tatar exile and genocide were commemorated in Istanbul on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the tragic events.
The victims were remembered at the event held on the evening of May 17, 2023, organized by the Consulate General of Ukraine in Istanbul with the support of the Türkiye Ukraine Romania Crimean Industrialists Business People Association (TURKSID) at the Eyüpsultan Culture and Art Center.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç in a written statement noted that Türkiye, just as in the past, continues to support Crimean Tatar Turks to eliminate their grievances and enable them to live in peace and security by preserving their identities in their homeland.
Reiterating that a significant number of Crimean Tatar Turks – the indigenous people of Crimea – were forcibly separated from their homeland 79 years ago and lost their lives either during the exile or in places where they were exiled to, Bilgiç noted that, "Our compatriots, who continued their struggle for rights without resorting to violence, have been unable to return to their homeland, the Crimean Peninsula, for decades after the 1944 exile."