Estonian parliament recognizes mass deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide

The Estonian parliament has recognized the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in Crimea announced this on its Facebook page, Ukrinform reports.

“Today, the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia (Riigikogu) has approved a statement recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people by the Soviet regime in 1944 as an act of genocide. 83 deputies of the Riigikogu voted in favor of the statement,” the post reads.

As noted, the statement condemns the mass extermination of Crimean Tatars and their forced deportation from the Crimean peninsula. The document also emphasizes that the Russian Federation, after the occupation of Crimea in 2014, continues its policy of genocide against Crimean Tatars, aimed at destroying their identity.

Members of the Estonian Parliament called for condemnation of the ongoing crimes against Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea, which continue today through systematic detentions, torture, abductions and bans on learning and using their native language. Estonian MPs also appealed to the international community to show solidarity and continue to condemn the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

Earlier, the deportation was recognized as an act of genocide against the Crimean Tatar people in 2015 by Ukraine, in 2019 by Latvia and Lithuania, in 2022 by Canada, and in 2024 by Poland.

The deportation of the Crimean Tatars began on May 18, 1944 at 3 a.m. and lasted until early June (the first and largest wave ended on May 20).

The official basis for the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people was the State Defense Committee’s secret resolution, No. 5859, “On the Crimean Tatars” of May 11, 1944, which accused the Crimean Tatars of alleged mass betrayal and mass collaboration during the occupation of Crimea by Nazi troops.

According to official data (the so-called Lavrentiy Beria’s figures), 183,144 people were deported. According to Tatar sources, more than 400,000 were deported, and about 46% of the deportees died within one-and-a-half years. The punitive operation involved nearly 32,000 NKVD officers. People were given from a few minutes to half an hour to gather, and were allowed to take personal belongings, provisions, dishes, and household equipment with them. Most of the property was left behind and confiscated by the state. Most of the deportees were sent to special settlements in Uzbekistan, some to the Gulag, and some to replenish the special contingent for the Moscow coal basin.