Rada recognizes the genocide of the Circassian people committed during the Russian-Caucasian war

The Verkhovna Rada supported a draft resolutionby which MPs recognized the genocide of the Circassian people committed by the Russian Empire during the Russian-Caucasian war, which was accompanied by ethnic cleansing, massacres, forced relocation, and the organization of famine and epidemics.

This was reported by UNN with a reference to MP Oleksiy Honcharenko and a map of the draft resolution No. 11347.

Details

“The Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Circassian people. There were 232 votes in favor,” Goncharenko said.

According to Honcharenko, the genocide committed by the Russian Empire during the Russian-Caucasian War (1763-1864) was accompanied by ethnic cleansing, mass murder, forced relocation, and the organization of famines and epidemics.

As a result, more than 90% of Circassians were physically destroyed or expelled. Ukraine honors the memory of the victims of this crime, condemns the colonial policy of the empire and calls on the international community to recognize this genocide

According to the resolution, the Verkhovna Rada recognizes that the mass extermination of Circassians (Adygs) and their forced expulsion from their historical homeland to the Ottoman Empire during the Russian-Caucasian War of 1763-1864 has all the signs of genocide, and that if such crimes were committed today, they would be undoubtedly recognized as a violation of the Fourth Hague Convention of October 10, 1907 and an act of genocide, in accordance with the UN Convention of December 9, 1948.

The Council also decided to honor the memory of all victims of this crime and express its solidarity with the Circassian (Adyghe) people.

In addition, the Council: strongly condemns the genocidal actions of the Russian Empire, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Circassians, caused significant damage to the foundations of Circassian society and great losses to humanity;

called on all countries and international organizations that have not yet recognized the mass destruction of Circassians as genocide to do so;

called on the Russian Federation to officially recognize this crime and apologize for it;

instructed the Ukrainian government and called on other governments to promote awareness of this and other crimes committed by the Russian Empire by developing knowledge of them in educational and research programs;

condemned the attempts of the current Russian regime to distort historical facts to support the ideology of oppression and aggression;

recognized the right of the Circassian (Adyghe) people in the diaspora to repatriate to the lands of their former settlement in the northwestern part of the Caucasus with the further realization of the right to national self-determination on their historical territory.

To recap

The Czech Senate has recognized the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars as an act of genocide. The decision was supported by 70 senators out of 76 present, joining other countries that had previously made a similar recognition.