At dawn on May 18, 1944, representatives of the people's commissariat of internal affairs of the USSR broke into the homes of the Crimean Tatars in Crimea (which is currently occupied by the Russians), gave them 2 minutes to dress, loaded them like cattle into freight cars of a train, and drove them in an unknown direction. People travelled standing day and night for weeks, 100 people in a carriage. People did not get food and water. And those who survived, by the will of the Soviet Union, found themselves beyond the Arctic circle. The Russians shot those who refused to be deported on the spot. Those who were deported died of cold and hunger. In that year, 46% of the Crimean Tatar population was killed.
We all remember this terrible date and this genocide of our brotherly people — the Crimean Tatars. We honour the memory of the dead and fight the occupation so that this tragedy never happens again.
