Crimean Tatars: Candles Lit in Berlin in Memory of Deportation
Photo courtesy of Kyivpost
On 19 May 2017, a group of people gathered in Berlin to commemorate the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. Participants in the event placed candles on the ground outlining the Crimean peninsula and the Tamga, the symbol of the Crimean Tatars. On this occasion, Rostyslav Ohryzko, advisor to the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, reminded that the Crimean Tatars are still being intimidated today as they are not even able, on the peninsula, to pay tribute to the victims of deportation in 1944. The diplomat urged Germany to continue to exert pressure on Moscow, stressing that “the majority of countries supported Ukraine saying this annexation was absolutely illegal”.
Find below an article published by Ukrinform.net
The action to commemorate the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people was held at the Potsdamer Platz in the center of Berlin.
Participants in the action placed the candles to form outline of the peninsula and Tamga, the symbol of Crimean Tatar people, an correspondent of Ukrinform in Germany reports.
"Today, the Crimean Tatars are being intimidated again, they are experiencing repressions. Even more absurd is the fact that they cannot even pay tribute to the victims of deportation in 1944," said Rostyslav Ohryzko, advisor to the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany.
“There is so far no simple answer to how to force Russia to return to the legal field yet. However, one thing is clear: Crimea will always be a part of Ukraine, where Crimean Tatars feel at home,” the diplomat said. He stressed that the overwhelming majority of countries supported Ukraine saying this annexation was absolutely illegal.
Ohryzko called on Germany not to stop to exert pressure on Moscow. “The process of return may last a long time, but history knows enough examples confirming that any occupation ends," the diplomat said.
