The address of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide
Today we honour the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.
The crime of the soviet regime, which began on 18 May 1944, was one of the great tragedies that the totalitarian machine silenced and concealed for many years.
79 years ago, the soviet authorities committed a deliberate crime to destroy the national identity and indigenous people of Ukraine.
In 2014, after the illegal annexation of Crimea, the russian federation resorted to the old methods, launched systemic repression, ‘selective justice’ and deliberate persecution of the Crimean Tatar people. And, again, the goal has not changed – to destroy the indigenous people of Ukraine.
This is a historical trait of russians and a historical desire for extermination on ethnic grounds.
Only victory over absolute evil can put an end to the history of crimes.