Meskhetian Turks
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| Meskhetian Turks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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c. 300.000 |
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| Languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turkish, Russian, Georgian, Azeri | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sunni Islam, Christianity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turks, Terekeme, other Muslims of Meskheti |
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Meskhetian Turks or Meskhetians are the former Muslim inhabitants of Meskheti (Georgia), along the border with Turkey. They were deported to Central Asia during November 15-25 1944 by Joseph Stalin and settled within Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Of the 120,000 forcibly deported in cattle-trucks a total of 10,000 perished.[1] Today they are dispersed over a number of other countries of the former Soviet Union. A majority[citation needed] (more than 80%) of Meskhetian Turks are ethnic Turks (Yerli (Turkish-speaking agriculturalists) and Terekeme (Azerbaijani-speaking pastoralists)) with Kurds and Hamshenis. A minority[citation needed] (about 20%) are descendants of indigenous Georgians who became Muslim in the 17th-18th centuries. The estimated population of Meskhetian Turks is around 300,000. They are known as Ahıska Türkleri (Akhaltsikhe Turks) in Turkey.
In May 1989 a pogrom[2][3][4] of Meskhetian Turks occurred in the crowded and poor Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan as a result of growing ethnic tensions during the era of Glasnost. This triggered an evacuation of Meskhetian Turks from Uzbekistan.
In the 1990s, Georgia began to receive Meskhetian settlers, provided that they declared themselves to be of ethnic Georgian origin. One of the human rights campaigners on their behalf was Guram Mamulia. Their resettlement created tension among the Armenian population of Samtskhe-Javakheti province. Azerbaijan accepted a number of Meskhetians, but faced problems with refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, and the government did not accept larger numbers. Turkey, seen as their homeland by many Meskhetian Turks themselves, started a program of resettling Meskhetian immigrants in the underprivileged, Kurdish majority eastern regions of the country. This program was for fewer than 200 individuals, and fell short of expectations. The government of the Soviet Union encouraged Meskhetians to settle in selected oblasts of the Russian SSR, and most received Russian Federation citizenship in 1992. The legal status of those who moved to Krasnodar Krai, however, remained undetermined, and many were Stateless.[5] Their presence caused tensions with the local Cossack population.[6] To help resolve the situation, the International Organization for Migration implemented a program to resettle Meskhetian Turks from the Krasnodar Krai to the United States between 2004 and 2007. In cooperation with the two governments (Russia and the US), approximately 11,500 individuals departed.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/apr/05/guardianobituaries.usa as retrieved on 29 Apr 2008 20:59:44 GMT
- ^ Pål Kolstø, Andrei Edemsky (1995), Russians in the Former Soviet Republics, p. 224. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253329175.
- ^ Kathleen. Collins (2006), Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia, p. 2006. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521839505.
- ^ J. Otto Pohl (1999), Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949, p. 18. Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313309213.
- ^ [http://www.mid.ru/ns-dgpch.nsf/6786f16f9aa1fc72432569ea0036120e/e5577206e63ab5bdc32570220027e971?OpenDocument О положении турок-месхетинцев в Краснодарском крае Российской Федерации], Russian Ministry of Foreign relations document
- ^ Peter Finn (Friday, November 18, 2005). "Revival of Cossacks Casts Muslim Group Out of Russia to U.S.", The Washington Post, p. A19.
[edit] References
- Robert Conquest, The Nation Killers: The Soviet Deportation of Nationalities (London: MacMillan, 1970) (ISBN 0-333-10575-3)
- S. Enders Wimbush and Ronald Wixman, "The Meskhetian Turks: A New Voice in Central Asia," Canadian Slavonic Papers 27, Nos. 2 and 3 (Summer and Fall, 1975): 320-340
- Alexander Nekrich, The Punished Peoples: The Deportation and Fate of Soviet Minorities at the End of the Second World War (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978) (ISBN 0-393-00068-0).
- Emma Kh. Panesh and L.B. Ermolov (Translated by Kevin Tuite). Meskhetians. World Culture Encyclopedia. Accessed on September 1, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Meskhetians
- Mariana Lamaison Sears (October 15, 2006). "Refugee life meets policy", The Burlington Free Press.
