KIEV, Ukraine

The Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday called on the international community to recognize the forceful deportation of Crimean Tatars, organized by the Soviet Union in 1944, as “genocide”.

The parliament also approved a call for the UN, the European Parliament and other international organizations to condemn violations of human rights against Tatars in Crimea, which has been occupied by Russian Federation.

Refat Chubarov, president of the Crimean Tatar assembly, known as the Mejlis, told parliament that they were grateful to those countries which had condemned the “systematic oppression” against Crimean Tatars and Russian court decisions targeting the Mejlis.

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March 2014. Since then, the region’s Tatar minority has complained of repression, including arbitrary arrests and detentions.

The Mejlis was banned by the Supreme Court of Crimea in April as an "extremist organization" following a prosecution application lodged in February.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, as well as the Turkish Foreign Ministry, described the move as a "violation of human rights" and part of a continued campaign of “intimidation and oppression”.

On May 18, 1944 tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin’s Soviet regime, which accused them of having collaborated with occupying Nazi forces.

Around 180,000 people were deported to various regions within the Soviet territory, in particular, Siberia and Uzbekistan. Almost half of the exiles, who endured long months of dire living conditions, are thought to have died of starvation and disease.

This 30-year exile continued until 1987, when the Soviet government allowed 2,300 Crimean Tatars to return to their homeland. Another 19,300 people followed in 1988.