Jamala's '1944' remembers Stalin's deportation of Tatars from Crimea

KIEV, Feb. 22 - In a development almost guaranteed to upset Moscow, Ukrainians have nominated for this year's Eurovision song contest a song which commemorates Josef Stalin's deportation of more than 240,000 ethnic Tatars from their homeland in Crimea.

A soulful ballad about love and loss, Susana Jamaladinova song “1944” beat out five other rivals in what most consider a none-too-subtle rebuke for the Russian invasion of Crimea two years ago.

The 32-year-old singer and songwriter, who goes by the stage name of Jamala, has just been nominated as her country's entry for the annual pop contest, earned huge applause when it beat five other rivals in a live television show.

Jamaladinova, an ethnic Tatar born in Kyrgyzstan, wept tears during her victory at the national final, where she performed in traditional Tatar dress before a crowd waving Tatar and Ukrainian flags.

Her song tells the story of her own great-grandmother’s deportation along with the rest of Crimea's Tatars, around half of whom died because of the harsh living conditions.

"When strangers are coming...They come to your house," she sings. "They kill you all and say, we’re not guilty not guilty."

While her song avoids direct reference to Vladimir Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Jamaladinova has left no-one in any doubt about where her sympathies lie.

In an interview with the AFP news agency ahead of the vote, she said wanted people to hear a song written "in a state of helplessness" after Russia's seizure of her land.

"It was hard for me to recall all these memories again and again, but I understand that it is necessary now," she said. "Because now the Crimean Tatars are desperate and they need support."

Stalin deported the Tatars after accusing them of collaborating with Hitler, although Jamaladinova says her own relatives fought on the Soviet side. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many returned to Crimea, where since 2014 they have been vocal critics of the Russian annexation

Such a thinly-disguised song is widely predicted to get a zero-points rating from Moscow, which has taken part in the contest since 1994. However, it may fall foul first of Eurovision impartiality rules, which ban songs of an overtly political nature.

A Eurovision spokesman told The Telegraph that all songs would be formally scrutinized at a meeting on March 14. He declined to say whether it was likely that "1944" would be deemed too political, but previous entries that have aired geo-political controversies have been banned.

In 2009, a year after Russia's war with Georgia, the Georgian entry "We Don't Wanna Put In" was deemed unsuitable because of its obvious play on the Russian president's name. Georgia was told it could amend the lyrics, but chose not to enter the contest at all.

Russian entries were booed by some audiences at Eurovision in 2014 and 2015, apparently over both Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Putin's record on gay rights.

In 2009, the Russian president even proposed working with China and Central Asian allies to restart the Intervision Contest - a Soviet era version of Eurovision that ran during the late 1970s.

The proposal has thus far been postponed. (af/ez)