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The Turkish Foreign Ministry marked the 82nd anniversary of the Crimean Tatar deportation and the 162nd anniversary of the Circassian exile on Monday.
The ministry declared that Türkiye would continue its support for the preservation of Crimean Tatar national identity, language, and culture and condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea as having exacerbated the indigenous people's suffering.
The ministry's statement said, "Crimean Tatar Turks were forcibly uprooted from their homeland 82 years ago today. During the 1944 exile, hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars were deported to labor camps in various countries, and many lost their lives as a result of the conditions they endured. For many years, our kinsmen were unable to return to their homeland, the Crimean Peninsula."
The ministry stated that "the suffering of the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea, has been exacerbated by the illegal annexation of the peninsula."
"Türkiye will continue its support for the preservation of the Crimean Tatars' national identity, language, and culture, as well as for ensuring their security and well-being," the statement noted.
On the Circassian Exile, the statement said the May 21 anniversary "remains etched in memory as a great humanitarian tragedy that forced the peoples of the Caucasus to abandon their homeland under extremely harsh conditions, inflicting immense losses and profound suffering upon the Caucasus."
The ministry said Türkiye "shares the pain of the Crimean Tatars and the brotherly peoples of the Caucasus and remembers those who lost their lives with respect and compassion."
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