Crimean Tatar tells harrowing family tale for Eurovision

"They come to your house, they kill you all" -- those are the harrowing opening words of Ukraine's front-running entry in this year's usually festive and flamboyant Eurovision song contest.

The lament entitled "1944" is being performed by 32-year-old Jamala, who belongs to the Muslim Tatar minority of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Jamala's words refer to the great tragedy that befell her great-grandmother in the penultimate year of World War II, when Soviet dictator Stalin deported 240,000 Tatars -- or nearly the entire community -- to barren Central Asia and other far-flung lands.

But the memories of that horror have been revived by Russia's seizure of Crimea and Jamala's poignant song, which tells the story of a people with a history of persecution that continues to this day.

Ukraine picks its entry to the globally watched contest on Sunday, with Jamala already making international headlines and deeply touching compatriots' hearts.

Originally an opera singer who became a jazz star in Ukraine, Jamala won the national semifinal on February 6, with some calling her a "pearl" and "genius".

The svelte brunette is now seen as the favourite to represent Ukraine after it skipped last year's contest due to its dire economic malaise.

"I wanted to make a song about my great-grandmother Nazalkhan and thousands of Crimean Tatars who never had a chance to return to Crimea again," she told AFP.

"That year changed their lives forever."

- 'Locked in freight cars' -

Over a span of three days in May 1944, Stalin accused the Turkic ethnic group of collaborating with the Nazis and deported them thousands of kilometres (miles) to the east, where nearly half the people died of severe living conditions.

Jamala's great-grandmother was in her mid-20s when she, her four sons and daughter were deported, while her husband fought against the Nazis in the Soviet Army's ranks.

The whole family was "locked in freight cars like animals -- without food, without water, without fresh air -- and taken to Central Asia," the artist says.

In a journey that took several weeks, about 8,000 people -- mostly the elderly and children -- died of thirst and typhoid.

Nazalkhan's daughter did not survive the tortuous trek and "her body was thrown from the car like garbage," Jamala continues.

"I needed that song to free myself, to release the memory of my great-grandmother, the memory of that girl who has no grave, the memory of thousands of Crimean Tatars", who have nothing left, not "even photographs", says Jamala, tears flowing down her cheeks.

- 'State of helplessness' -

If she is chosen, Jamala will perform her song in Stockholm -- this year's Eurovision host -- in mid-May, just days before the 72nd anniversary of the deportation.

Jamala says has chosen this competition because she wants 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. Because now the Crimean Tatars are desperate and they need support," the artist says.

Crimean Tatars, who began returning to the their ancestral homeland after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, were horrified by Russia's takeover of the region, with the majority opposing the new authorities.

In the wake of Russia's takeover, many Tatar activists were arrested or had their homes raided, while community leaders living in Kiev were barred from entering the region.

The United Nations, United States and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have repeatedly condemned widespread human rights violations against the community.

- 'This is our home' -

Today, Jamala says, some pro-Russians taunt local Tatars with insults such as: "Deportation, you think it cannot be repeated?"

The singer herself says has not visited the peninsula in two years because she is "in the risk zone" for supporting Ukraine.

Her parents and some other relatives remained in Crimea and she misses them greatly, but understands their refusal to leave.

"This is our land. Our well dug by my great-grandfather, our garden with figs, persimmons and pomegranates," she says.

"This is our home. We returned there and nobody has the right to kick us out," Jamala sighs.

The international community has not recognised Russia's annexation, but the prospects of Crimea's return to Ukraine are dim.

Sadly, Jamala says she believes only a "miracle" can now reunify Ukraine.