The resolution was adopted by the Lower House of Polish Parliament, Sejm, on Friday - in an almost unanimous manner. 414 out of 432 MPs present supported the commemoration, including virtually all present members of the ruling bloc led by the Civic Coalition Platform as well as the opposition-leading Law and Justice. The only MPs against were the 16 members of far-right Konfederacja, while 2 MPs abstained.
"In the morning of May 18, 1944, the Soviet authorities began the deportation of Crimean Tatars from the Crimean Peninsula. Within three days almost 200,000 men, women and children were herded into cattle wagons and deported to Central Asia and Siberia in inhumane conditions. 8,000 people did not survive the deportation, and another 45,000 died after arrival. In the following years, the Soviets systematically erased the Tatar heritage of Crimea" - the resolution reads.
The document emphasises that "the deportation of Crimean Tatars from Crimea in 1944 and its consequences were an act of genocide against the Crimean Tatar nation" - adding that the memory of the victims of this Soviet genocide is already honored by Ukraine on May 18".
The resolution recalls that the contemporary Moscow authorities followed suit, as "in 2014, 70 years after the original heinous crime, the Russian Federation illegally annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol - which are part of Ukraine. And then, the systematic persecution of the Crimean Tatars living on the peninsula began anew".
"In 2016, on false charges, Russia banned the activities of the Mejlis - the parliament of the Crimean Tatars. Dozens of Tatar activists, including the long-time chairman of the Mejlis, Mustafa Dzhemilev, were once again expelled from their land - and others ended up in Russian prisons for many years" - the document continues.
A delegation of Crimean Tatar leaders, including Dzhemilev himself, was present in Sejm on the day the resolution was passed.
The Polish MPs underline in the resolution that the acts of genocide and persecution of the Crimean Tatars fill them with particular pain. "We draw attention to the priceless contribution of the Tatars to the history and national heritage of Poland - and emphasise the centuries-long, peaceful coexistence with them in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Republic of Poland".
The document notes that Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea was one of the first stages of the war of aggression against Ukraine, that it constitutes a violation of the principle of territorial integrity and is a flagrant violation of both international law and the United Nations Charter.
"Referring to the Resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland on condemning the crime of genocide in Ukraine of April 8, 2022, we also point out that the violence used deliberately and systematically by the troops of the Russian Federation against civilian citizens of Ukraine bears the hallmarks of genocide" - the statement continues, also emphasising a number of international laws, agreements and treaties Russia violated through its actions.
The resolution concludes that "the Sejm once again condemns Russia's unprovoked, illegal, full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and calls on the international community to hold the authorities of the Russian Federation accountable for its crimes - and to effectively bring those responsible before the International Court of Justice in The Hague".
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Source: IAR, PAP