Published November 16,2024
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The eightieth anniversary of the pressured exile of Ahiska Turks was commemorated within the US capital with a convention that highlighted their struggles and resilience whereas calling for international recognition of their plight.
The occasion, organized Friday by the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center in collaboration with the Jamestown Foundation think-tank, introduced collectively teachers, politicians, representatives of non-governmental organizations and group members to debate challenges confronted by Ahiska Turks within the final 80 years of exile.
Islam Shakbandarov, president of the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center, informed Anadolu that internet hosting this system in Washington, D.C. held deep significance and praised the robust participation of younger individuals.
Shakbandarov detailed discussions on the convention, which lined the lifetime of the Ahiska group underneath Soviet rule, their pressured deportation and eventual resettlement within the US.
“Eighty years have passed since the exile, and there are now very few living witnesses of this painful event. We call it genocide because 100,000 Ahiska people were forcibly removed from their homes and ancestral lands overnight. While men were fighting on the front lines in the Russian army to protect the Soviet Union, the elderly, women and children were loaded onto animal wagons and exiled,” stated Shakbandarov.
He added that 20,000 Ahiska Turks died through the deportation.
“It is crucial that these stories are shared, and the voices of Ahiska Turks are heard. Even though 80 years have passed, Georgia has yet to restore the return rights of Ahiska Turks. Georgia is rapidly becoming more Russified,” he stated.
Steve Swarlo, a human rights lawyer and affiliate professor of the apply of human rights on the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, stated he has been working with the Ahiska group for 25 years.
He famous that he first labored with Akhiska Turks in southern Russia the place he stated they have been dealing with statelessness, fixed persecution by the hands of Cossack teams and different Russian extremists.
Swarlo famous that the US authorities opened up a particular program in 2004 for Ahiska Turks to resettle right here.
“In 1944, Stalin deported the group from southern Georgia … and that experience — -it forced the community to consolidate their ties to become stronger, and they had to struggle to survive, and they lived relatively successfully,” he stated.
Swarlo famous that repeated deportations throughout and after the Soviet period created a sophisticated historical past for Ahiska Turks.
Nazly Mamedova, an immigration lawyer of Ahiska origin, emphasised the significance of elevating consciousness within the US and the West concerning the hardships endured by Ahiska Turks.
“The genocide that happened to the community needs to be recognized, and it would be great for the West to recognize that and to help Ahiska Turks to return to their homelands,” she stated.
Mamedova additionally known as for the Turkic world to assist Ahiska Turks’ efforts to develop their group, acquire recognition and return house.
Peter Mattis, president of the Jamestown Foundation, expressed sorrow concerning the group’s tragic historical past.
“They have been through so much from the initial forced deportation, the mass conscription under Stalin’s Soviet Union, to the present day, that they have shown us the true nature of the Russian government,” he stated.
“And I think we have a duty as human beings, really, to draw attention to these issues and to ensure that the people who have suffered … are seen as people, as sort of full citizens of wherever they are forced to land,” stated Mattis.
Ahiska Turks, also referred to as Meskhetian Turks, have been expelled from the Meskheti area of Georgia by Soviet chief Joseph Stalin in 1944.
They confronted discrimination and human rights abuses earlier than and after the Soviet deportation.
Source: www.anews.com.tr