Statement by the YABLOKO party, 18.05.2015

Today is the 71st anniversary of deportation of the Crimean Tatar people.

On Stalin’s orders, the NKVD [later renamed into KGB] troops evicted over 190,000 people, mainly women, elderly, children and disabled veterans [of the Second World War] from their homes, loaded them into wagons for transportation of cattle and sent to the republics of Central Asia under a pretext of “betrayal of Motherland”. About 20 per cent of people died in the first 18 months only since the deportation.

The present Russian leadership does not like to recall this date, like many other dates related to the crimes of Stalinism.

The rhetoric of the Russian leaders has changed dramatically in the recent years. We have learned that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which started World War II, was recognized rational.

On this tragic day, Crimean Tatars and other repressed peoples did not hear a single kind word from the authorities, moreover they faced new reprisals. A traditional rally in Simferopol [capital of Crimea] was banned. YABLOKO was not allowed to hold a traditional rally in memory of the deportation in Moscow.

Prohibition of events dedicated to the anniversary of the deportation serves as another proof that the rights of the repressed peoples have not been restored yet.

Majlis [the parliament] of the Crimean Tatars is proclaimed illegal, a number of its leaders are again deported from their homeland. A number of activists is imprisoned.

Despite the fact that the government started resolving a very painful issue for Crimean Tatars – on the recognition of property title on housing, – a clear signal is given: the government is ready to talk only with those who are 100 per cent loyal to the present political regime.

Our demands remain the same:

1. Stop neglecting the problems of the Crimean Tatar people and other repressed peoples;

2. Establish in the Russian Federation a common remembrance day for the deportations, determining it only after careful consultations with officials and the public and deported peoples;

3. Conduct a Congress of the Deported Peoples in Moscow, which will define their essential requirements and the basic areas of a special programme of state support for the deported peoples. Such a programme should be based on the declaration of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 14.11.1989 No 772-1 “On the recognition of repressive acts against the peoples that were forcibly displaced be unlawful and criminal and ensure their rights,” and the law of the Russian Federation from 26.04.1991 No 1107-1 “On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples “.

Sergei Mitrokhin

Chairman of the YABLOKO party