18 May 1944 is one of the most horrific dates in the history of the Crimean Tatars. Stalin’s criminal regime deported hundreds of thousands of people overnight, condemning thousands of children, women, and the elderly to death and suffering. According to various estimates, between 180,000 and 420,000 Crimean Tatars were deported in a matter of days. This was state terror against their own people. Anyone who today attempts to justify Stalinism, justifying repression, deportations, and human tragedies, either lacks knowledge of history or deliberately justifies crimes against humanity.
In 2006, the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to recognise the deportation as genocide. In 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognised the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 as genocide. 245 deputies supported the corresponding resolution. 18 May is established as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide.
We express solidarity with the Crimean Tatars on these memorable days.
We call on the public to pay attention to the tragedy of the Crimean Tatar people.
We wish for the strengthening of fraternal and friendly relations between the colonised peoples and the Crimean Tatars.
Sincerely,
Rafis Kashapov – Prime Minister of the Government of Independent Tatarstan in Exile (GIT)
Vil Mirzayanov – Honorary Advisor of GIT in Exile
Isa Sadykov – Honorary Consul of GIT in Exile in Azerbaijan
Nafis Kashapov – Deputy Prime Minister of GIT in Exile
Marat Akhmerov – Deputy Prime Minister of GIT in Exile for Legal and Legislative Issues
Farit Zakiev – Chairman of the VTOC
Zufar Zainullin – Ambassador of GIT in Exile in the Republic of Latvia
Vyacheslav Sivchik – Honorary Consul of GIT in Exile in Belarus
Dmitry Kuznetsov – Representative of GIT in Exile in Finland
Raushan Gizatullin – Representative of GIT in Exile in Bavaria
Kamil Sukayev – Ambassador of GIT in Exile in the USA
Baatr Pyurbeyev – Representative of GIT in Exile for Interaction with Mongolian peoples
Zilya Usmanova – PNT activist in exile in the USA
Alina Koltsova – PNT activist in exile in Sweden
Yerzhan Turgumbay – leader of the Erkin Kazakh movement
Rizvan Kubakaev – Nogai public figure, publicist
Sergei Kryukov – publicist and public figure,
France Vladimir Kostenko – public figure, Washington, USA
Rose Kurban, scientist-writer, Ankara, Turkey
Musa Temishev – public figure, Germany
Rovshan Hasanov – activist, political emigrant, Finland
Khizir Khuchbarov – human rights activist, Paris, France
Gennady Shkirya-Banashinsky – human rights activist, Germany
Edige Bekmurzaev – “Free – Nogai El” Alexander Kosovsky – social activist,
Aidar Gainutdinov – social activist, Canada
Pyotr Khlebovich – Poland, Poland
Alfiya Asadullina – public figure, Kazakhstan
Marcel Shakirov – social activist, Azerbaijan
Tagir Minibaev – social activist, Germany
Natalya Gromova – activist, Warsaw, Poland
Georgy Gelashvili – manager, Toronto, Canada
Zhanibek Alimkhanuly – public figure, Alma-Ata
Sara Sharoevskaya – human rights activist, Istanbul, Turkey
Yuri Kovalchuk – businessman, Ukraine, Kyiv
Rakhimya Akhmerova – “Alty Ai”
Mansur Khakimzyanov – public figure,
Turkey
Nurmukhamet Biktashev – public figure, Georgia
Yuri Fedorenkov – public figure, London, Great Britain
Nikolay Lobachevsky – public figure, Berlin, Germany
Guzalia Daudova – Uzbekistan
Ilmaz Nurgaliev – civil activist, Astana, Kazakhstan
Irek Garif – “Turan”, Australia
Albert Timergaliev – social activist, Italy
Farida Zinnurova – activist, Kyrgyzstan
Askhat Niyazov – public figure, Canada.
