UKRAINE ORDERS PROBE ON 1944 DEPORTATION OF CRIMEAN TATARS

WorldBulletin
Friday, 03 July 2009 11:32

Ukraine’s President ordered Ukrainian Intelligence Service and
Prosecutor to probe mass deportation of Crimean Tatar Muslims in 1944.

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko ordered Ukrainian Intelligence
Service (SBU) and Prosecutor Aleksandr Medvedko to open an
investigation on mass deportation of Crimean Tatar Muslims in 1944
Soviet era, Crimean News agency (QHA) said on Thursday.

The announcement came just one day before Yushchenko’s two-days visit
to Crimea between 3-5 July.

The State Security Service of Ukraine established on May a special
unit to investigate Stalin-era crimes against Crimean Tatars, who
are commemorating the 65th anniversary of their mass deportation
from Crimea.

The investigation is expected to look into the forced deportation of
other ethnic groups from the peninsula during World War II.

The head of the Ukrainian State Security Service, Valentyn
Nalyvaichenko, announced the creation of the special investigative
unit in the Crimean capital, Aqmescit (Simferopol). Nalyvaichenko said
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ordered the creation of the
unit to investigate crimes involving the repression and destruction
of Crimean Tatars under the Soviet Union.

"The president thinks that the illegal and forcible mass deportation
of Crimean Tatars in 1944 was an irrefutable fact. Also, it is another
fact that other nationals living Crimea such as Bulgarians, Armenians
and Greek were exiled too," QHA quoted A spokeswoman for president
Irina Vannikova as saying.

The Crimean Tatars are Turkic people who inhabited the Crimean
peninsula, now a part of Ukraine, for over seven centuries.

During World War II, the entire Tatar population in Crimea fell
victims to Stalin’s policies. In 1944 they were unjustly accused of
being "Nazi collaborators" and deported en masse to Central Asia and
other lands of the Soviet Union. Many died of disease and malnutrition.

Although a 1967 Soviet decree removed the charges against Crimean
Tatars, the Soviet government did nothing to facilitate their
resettlement in Crimea and to make reparations for lost lives and
confiscated property.

More than 250,000 Crimean Tatars are back in their homeland, struggling
to reestablish their lives and reclaim their national and cultural
rights against many social and economic obstacles.