80 years have passed since the deportation of the Meskhetian (Ahiska) Turks from their historical lands in what is now Georgia. The deportation of the Ahiska Turks to Central Asia was carried out by Stalin's order on November 14, 1944. Despite the decades that have passed, the Ahiska Turks cannot erase the horrors of the deportation from their memory.

The people who were subjected to repression historically lived in the territory of Meskheti, which after the end of the Russo-Turkish War in 1829 was divided between the two countries - part of the land went to the Russian Empire, and part became part of Turkey. This division became the cause of the tragedy. After the revolution of 1917 and the civil war, the Meskhetian Turks lived compactly on their historical lands - five districts that became part of the Georgian SSR. When the Patriotic War began, almost the entire adult male population of Meskheti was mobilized - about 46 thousand people, when the war ended, it turned out that with one stroke of the pen they were deprived of their homeland, their ancestral home...

In 1944, the USSR State Defense Committee issued Resolution No. 6279, according to which the Meskhetian Turks were deported to the Central Asian republics. However, nobody from this people was participated in collaborationism. Many Meskhetians fought valiantly in the ranks of the Red Army. But this did not save them from forced displacement.

In 1956 the Meskhetian Turks, like the other deported peoples, were rehabilitated. However, unlike most of the deportees, they could not return to their homeland for a long time, which is why they were forced to live in Central Asia. And in 1989, they became victims of the Fergana pogroms, as a result of which they were forced to flee from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan or Russia. But even there they could not find peace. In Azerbaijan in 1992, they became victims of terror by Armenian soldiers (Khojaly), there were cases of conflicts between local authorities and Meskhetian Turks in Russia and some nationalists in Kazakhstan.

Every November 14, Meskhetian Turks celebrate a day of mourning.

Tatars mourn with you. We are both turkic people.

Tatarlar sezneň belän.