Deportation of the Crimean Tatars

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Sürgün (Crimean Tatar and Turkish for "exile") refers to the state-organized forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 to Uzbek SSR and other parts of the Soviet Union. A symbol of Sürgün is a steam engine.

The projects of expelling the Crimean Tatars from the Crimea emerged several times in Russian ruling circles long before the Crimea was annexed by Russia in 1783 though never came to implementation^{[citation needed]}. In 1944 under the pretext^{[citation needed]} of alleged collaboration of the Crimean Tatars with the Nazis during the Nazi occupation of the Crimea in 1941-1944 (although the percent of Crimean Tatar collaborators didn't noticeably differ from that in other ethnic groups)^{[citation needed]} the Soviet government decided the total eviction of the Crimean Tatar people from the Crimea.

The deportation began on 18 May 1944 in all Crimean inhabited localities.^[1] More than 32,000 NKVD troops participated in this action. 193,865 Crimean Tatars were deported, 151,136 of them to Uzbek SSR, 8,597 to Mari ASSR, 4,286 to Kazakh SSR, the rest 29,846 to the various oblasts of RSFSR.

From May to November 10,105 Crimean Tatars died of starvation in Uzbekistan (7% of deported to Uzbek SSR) . Nearly 30,000 (20%) died in exile during the year and a half by the NKVD data and nearly 46% by the data of the Crimean Tatar activists^{[citation needed]}. Due to hunger, thirst and disease, around 45% of the total population died in the process of deportation.^[2] According to Soviet dissident information, many Crimean Tatars were made to work in the large-scale projects conducted by the Soviet GULAG system.^[3]

Crimean activists call for the recognition of the Sürgün as genocide.^[4]

See also

• Persecution of Muslims
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• Forced settlements in the Soviet Union
• Soviet persecutions
• Ethnic cleansing
• Mustafa Edige Kirimal

References

1. ^ "Ukraine to Investigate Crimean Tatar Deportation". Voice of America. May 18, 2009. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-05-18-voa21-68734727.html. Retrieved 17 May 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.unpo.org/members/7871
3. ^ The Muzhik & the Commissar, TIME Magazine, November 30, 1953
4. ^ Crimean Tatars Call On Kyiv To Restore Their Rights, Radio Free Europe, December 12, 2005

External links

• State Defense Committee Decree No. 5859ss, "On the Crimean Tatars", Stalin, May 11, 1944 via loc.gov on 2010 10 12
  • Decree 5859ss in Russian: ГКО № 5859-сс via memorial.krsk.ru on 2010 10 12

• (Turkish) surgun.org
• 60th anniversary of Surgun
• Campana, Aurelie. Case Study: Sürgün: The Crimean Tatars’ deportation and exile Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence (2008-07-12)