STRIKES OVER WAGE ARREARS SPREAD THROUGHOUT UKRAINE. Some 2,000 coal miners from Pavlovhrad have set off on a 70- kilometer march to Dnipropetrovsk to demand unpaid wages, mirroring the action taken by 1,000 miners from Pervomaysk (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 May 1998). Ukrainian Radio reported on 18 May that the government has created a special commission for drawing up proposals by 21 May to resolve the socio-economic problems of coal miners in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Meanwhile, the teachers' strike over unpaid wages has expanded to 129 schools throughout the country, Ukrainian Television reported. JM

CRIMEAN TATARS COMMEMORATE DEPORTATION WITH POLITICAL DEMANDS. Some 10,000 people gathered in Simferopol on 18 May to mark the 54th anniversary of Stalin's deportation of Crimean Tatars, ITAR-TASS reported. Addressing the gathering, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev said the 250,000 Tatars who have returned to the peninsula find themselves "in a disastrous situation and without rights." Many have no jobs and housing, while 70,000 Tatars do not even have Ukrainian citizenship. A resolution adopted at the gathering demanded a simplified procedure whereby Crimean Tatars can acquire Ukrainian citizenship. It also demanded Crimean Tatar representatives in state bodies, and official recognition of the Kurultay and the Mejlis, the representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar people. JM