Czech Senate Recognizes Crimean Tatar Genocide
The Czech Senate has made a historic vote to recognize the Soviet deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide. This decision was unanimous, with 70 out of 76 senators voting in favor.
In May 1944, the Soviet Union forcibly expelled nearly half a million Crimean Tatars from their homeland on the Crimean Peninsula. Thousands died during this event and tens of thousands more perished later due to harsh living conditions while exiled.
The vote was seen as a validation of the suffering experienced by the Crimean Tatar people. It also strengthened international solidarity against similar acts of ethnic persecution.
Mustafa Dzhemilev, Ukraine‘s Commissioner for the Crimean Tatar People, was invited to speak at the Senate and received a standing ovation. He had been invited by Maria Mezentseva, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
This recognition is not new in the world. Countries like Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Canada, Poland, and Estonia have also officially recognized the repression of Crimean Tatars during World War II as an act of genocide.
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