The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation responded to an international mourning rally on the 76th anniversary of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people, which took place on May 18, 2020 with the participation of senior officials of the Republic of Turkey and representatives of the Crimean Tatar diaspora. In its message, the Russian Foreign Ministry claims some unworthy speculation on this tragic topic and expresses particular concern that outrageous parallels were drawn between the Stalinist repressions and the current policy of the Russian Federation with regard to Crimea.
Наталья Селиверстова/РИА «Новости»
In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, who noted that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes such statements against the background of bans on events related to the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people in the occupied Crimea, and mass warnings to activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement and the policy of heroization of Stalin and the construction of monuments to Stalin in Crimea, who committed these crimes.
"Gentlemen from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the ones who, in practice, have been carrying out outrageous parallels between the Stalinist repressions and the current policy of the Russian Federation regarding Crimea since the beginning of the occupation, when your special services conducted mass searches, arrests, more than 30 thousand Crimean Tatars were forced to leave them Crimea and about 200 children are deprived of paternal care?” – Bariiev posed a rhetorical question.
We remind that on May 18, the first international mourning rally was held, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people. The rally was watched all over the world, and representatives of the Parliament of Canada, the Seimas of Lithuania, the President of Turkey, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, as well as activists, politicians, diplomats and representatives of the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian diasporas from around the world joined in showing solidarity with the Crimean Tatars.