Turkey renews support for repatriation of Georgia’s Meskhetian Turks deported by Stalin

Turkey renews support for repatriation of Georgia’s Meskhetian Turks deported by Stalin
A bride at a traditional Meskhetian Turk wedding ceremony.
By bne IntelliNews November 14, 2018

Turkey on November 14 pledged to continue "to support the cause" of the Meskhetian Turks, who were deported in cattle trucks from Georgia to Central Asia under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

In a statement put out on the 74th anniversary of the deportation, the Turkish foreign ministry said Ankara was "closely" following "the conditions and repatriation process" of the Meskhetian Turks. There are nowadays thought to be around 600,000 Meskhetian Turks in the world, with most of them in countries including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Around 115,000 Meskhetian Turks, sometimes referred to as Ahiska Turks, were deported from Georgia on November 14, 1944. The Soviet Union accused them of maintaining loyalty to Turkey. Historians say towards 13,000 of the deportees, including many children and elderly persons, perished during the trip across the steppes of southern Russia to Central Asia.

Georgia adopted a law for the repatriation of members of the ethnic group in 2007. However, many Meskhetian Turks wanting to return to their historic homeland have been unable to overcome red tape preventing them from obtaining required documents from Georgian authorities.

Read in IntelliNews Pro
Get IntelliNews Pro

Related Articles

Iran opposes Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline “over ecology”

Iran has said it is opposed to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline due to ecology concerns, Ria Novosti reported from the Caspian Economic Forum in the Turkmen resort of Avaza on ... more

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank to offer debut Azerbaijani bond

Azerbaijan’s leading corporate and investment bank, Pasha Bank, is acting as the sole arranger and advisor for the inaugural AZN-denominated bond issuance by Black Sea Trade and Development Bank ... more

Russian mobile major MTS said to be selling its Ukrainian division to Azeri AzInTelecom

Russian mobile major Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is considering selling its Ukrainian business Vodafone Ukraina to Azeri state-owned AzInTelecom or Azercell, Лiга.net and RBC business portal reported ... more

Most Read

  1. LONG READ: Putin's 20 years on the job in numbers
    2 days ago
  2. Kosovo bans import of potatoes and honey from North Macedonia
    2 days ago
  3. Which country is the biggest FDI investor into Russia? It’s Cyprus... Not.
    14 days ago
  4. Russian sanctions fifth anniversary, but no reason to celebrate
    5 days ago
  5. Fast fashion giant Primark prepares to expand in Poland
    4 days ago
  1. Turkmen president reportedly rumoured dead as of July 20
    29 days ago
  2. LONG READ: Putin's 20 years on the job in numbers
    2 days ago
  3. Which country is the biggest FDI investor into Russia? It’s Cyprus... Not.
    14 days ago
  4. Kosovo bans entry of citizens with Serbian passports
    12 days ago
  5. MACRO ADVISER: Quiet evolution is better than noisy revolution
    28 days ago

Selected articles from our premium news/views wire IntelliNews Pro

Login to IntelliNews Pro
Get IntelliNews Pro

Reports

Dismiss