
Photo by Руслан Константинович
On May 17, a rally commemorating the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars was held in Kyiv. The event ‘Light a fire in your heart’ took place on Mykhailivska square with the participation of the Crimean Tatar community and lasted an hour. As part of the event the contours of the Crimean peninsula, the number 70, the contours of the Crimean Tatar Tamga national symbol and the words ‘No genocide’ were formed from candles. The Head of the Crimean Tatar Medjlis Mustafa Dzhemilev that was recently banned entry to Crimea, MP Oles Doniy, and famous political Vasyl Ovsiyenko took part in the gathering.
“Now the Crimean Tatars are in a very difficult situation, like the one 70 years ago,” notes Tamila Tasheva, the event’s organiser and the head of the media department of the Crimean Tatar brotherhood in Kyiv. “The occupation athorities of Crimea pressure the Tatar population, forcing them to leave their homeland,” reports Gazeta.ua. On May 16, the first day of remembrance of the deportation of the Tatars in Crimea, the puppet government in Crimea headed by Aksyonov banned all mass rallies till June 6, as a result of which the rally ‘Light a fire in your heart’ planned to happen in Crimea was cancelled. Continue reading →