Pain remains in collective memory amid 79th anniversary of Crimean Tatar exile

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - The pain of the exile of the Crimean Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group, from their homeland to Central Asia by the decision of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is still remembered amid the tragedy's 79th anniversary.

The exile began at midnight on May 18, 1944, during which about 250,000 Crimean Tatars, mostly comprised of the elderly, children, and women, were loaded into wagons and deported to Central Asia over a three-day period without any food or water.

The Soviet Union, which lost Crimea shortly after World War II started, began to put pressure on the Crimean Tatars after retaking the peninsula from Nazi Germany.

The door of a new exile was opened after the Crimean Tatars were accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany, and Stalin ordered their exile to different regions in Central Asia under a secret decree.

Half of those deported died before they could even reach the areas to which they were exiled.

The suffering of the Crimean Tatars, which began after the peninsula came out of the control of the Ottoman Empire, never ended, as policies against Crimean Tatars began under Russian Empress Catherine II and later increased during the Soviet Union.

The first destination of the exiled Crimean Tatars was Anatolia, with many taking refuge in the Ottoman Empire due to pressures imposed by Tsarist Russia.

Today, the Crimean Tatars, who have kept the pain of the 1944 exile in their memory for 79 years, continue to struggle to return to their homeland.

Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, who continue this struggle diplomatically in the international arena, have been experiencing difficulties since the start of Russia's war on Ukraine, due to which many had to leave Crimea to seek refuge.

Many prominent figures and leaders of the Crimean Tatars are exiled from their homeland, with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, having imposed a ban on their entry.

Also, the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatars, was listed as an "extremist organization" by Russia.

On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said Türkiye continues to support the struggle of the Crimean Tatars to "live in peace and security by preserving their identity in their homeland."

Bilgic further said Türkiye shares the pain of the Crimean Tatars, as well as those of "brotherly Caucasian peoples," noting that the ministry wishes mercy to "those who lost their lives in these tragic events which left indelible marks in our collective memory.