Bittersweet Homecoming For Crimea's Tatars

There is an interesting article on Radio Free Europe entitled "Ukraine: A Bittersweet Homecoming For Crimea's Tatars"

Extract: In May 1944, Soviet authorities rounded up Crimea's 190,000 Tatars and loaded them onto freight trains bound for Central Asia, mainly for Uzbekistan. This collective punishment was ordered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who accused the entire Crimean Tatar population of collaborating with Nazi Germany in World War II.

The 1944 deportation remains a painful chapter in the history of Crimean Tatars. Almost half of the deportees are estimated to have died during the journey or shortly afterward.

On September 5, 1967, Soviet authorities issued a decree exonerating Crimean Tatars from alleged wrongdoing.

The decree allowed thousands of Tatars deported to seek repatriation to Crimea. Forty years later, however, many Tatars remain outside their homeland or continue to face discrimination at home.

The article is written by Volodymyr Prytula