Fifty-four members of parliament issued a statement commemorating the 80th anniversary and calling the events an "Act of Genocide" which was passed with 83 votes in favor – a rare moment of agreement in the Riigikogu.

There were 91 members of the 101-seat parliament present, but eight MPs did not participate.

In the statement, the Riigikogu strongly condemned the extermination and the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars from their homeland on the Crimean Peninsula to the territories of Central Asia.

Around 200,000 Crimean Tatars were deported and tens of thousands perished.

The entire nation lost their homeland and was subjected to brutal Russification for decades, the statement says. The ban to return to homeland was lifted only in November 1989.

The statement underlines that in Crimea, which was occupied in 2014, the Russian Federation is continuing the policy of genocide pursued by the Soviet Union against the Crimean Tatars, with the aim of destroying the identity and erasing the historical and cultural heritage of the Crimean Tatars.

The Riigikogu condemns the continuation of the policy of genocide against Crimean Tatars through systematic detention, torture, kidnapping and the prohibition to learn and use their native language.

It also calls on the international community to show solidarity with the Crimean Tatars and to continue to condemn the occupation and annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

The Riigikogu wants to see the unconditional restoration of Ukraine's national sovereignty over the territory occupied by the Russian Federation since 2014.

It stressed that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine.

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