Lithuanian parliamentarians urge to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide
“Crimes” against the Crimean Tatars committed in the USSR should be recognized as a genocide, according to a draft of the resolution registered by Conservatives Audronius Ažubalis and Laurynas Kasčiūnas in the Lithuanian Seimas, as reported by DELFI.
“There is no statute of limitations for crimes committed during the communist regime,” said Ažubalis. Also, according to the parliamentarians, “oppression, discrimination and violence against the Crimean Tatars began again, five years ago,” when Russia annexed Crimea.
“It is necessary to show solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people and continue the policy of not recognizing the Russian Federation’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014,” reads the statement.
Mass deportations of the Crimean Tatars to Central Asia began on May 18, 1944 following the decision of the State Defense Committee. The indicated reason for doing so was that a significant part of the Crimean Tatar population was cooperating with the German occupying authorities.
In November 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared the deportation of the Crimean Tatars to be illegal. On April 21, 2014, after Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree offering rehabilitation services to the Crimean Tatars and other peoples affected by the deportations of 1944.