About 40 thousand of 70 thousand Meskhetian (or Ahiska) Turks living in Azerbaijan have appealed to Veten (Motherland) society with a request to return back to Georgia, the head of the society Ibrahim Burhanov told ANS TV. He also noted that the date of their official request which expired on January 1 this year had been extended for more six months.

Meskhetian Turks or Meskhetians are the former Muslim inhabitants of Meskheti (Georgia), along the border with Turkey who 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. Today they are dispersed over a number of other countries of the former Soviet Union. A majority  of Meskhetian Turks are ethnic Turks and Terekeme. The estimated population of Meskhetian Turks is around 300,000. They are also known as Ahıska Türkleri.

In May 1989 a pogrom 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. Their resettlement created tension among the Armenian population of Samtskhe-Javakheti province. Azerbaijan accepted around 70 thousand Meskhetians, but faced problems with refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. 

/ANS TV/

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