On September 5, 1967, a Decree was issued that gave Crimean Tatars false hope of returning to Crimea. The document lifted accusations of collaboration with German invaders from the people but asserted that Crimean Tatars had already taken root in their places of exile. The Decree was followed by a Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Resolution allowing deportees to settle anywhere in the USSR. Despite strange wording in the documents, Crimean Tatars interpreted them as opening the path to their homeland, and by late September some families had already arrived in Crimea.
