Anniversary Of The SURGUN - May 18, 2004

May 18, 2004 commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the SURGUN, the deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population from their ancestral homeland by the Soviet Government . On May 18, 1944, in the early morning hours, Crimean Tatars, mostly women, children, and elderly whose loved ones were at the front defending the Soviet motherland, were brutally uprooted from their homes, loaded on cattle wagons and under the most barbaric conditions shipped off to Siberia, the Urals and mainly to Central Asia. 46.2% of the total Crimean Tatar population perished during the SURGUN. The Soviet authorities justified their cruelty by accusing the Crimean Tatars of the collaboration with the Nazi Occupation Forces, an accusation the Soviet Government later rescinded by a decree. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, approximately 275 000 Tatars have returned to homeland, facing severe political, and economic difficulties. Crimean Tatars, today still remain as a “divided nation”, half of whom remain in their exiled places. As Crimean Tatar Community of Canada, we call for immediate repatriation and rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars, and recognition of their human rights!

F. Tutku Aydin
Ph. D. Student
University of Toronto