Meskhetian Turks, deported by Stalin, are back in their homeland 71 years after exile
Meskhetian Turks began returning to their homeland after spending more than half a century in exile. Two Turkish Airlines planes, en route from Ukraine, carried the 347 members of 92 families to Turkey in two groups on Friday.
They were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, Erzincan Governor Suleyman Kahraman and a crowd of residents at Erzincan airport. Airport staff bearing red carnations warmly welcomed the group.
Twenty-nine Meskhetian Turk families, who had returned to Turkey previously, were also present at the airport to welcome the newcomers.
The first plane, which took off from the Kharkiv International Airport in Sloviansk city, landed at 03:20 pm in Erzincan's airport while the second landed at 7: pm at the airport.
A total of 677 Meskhetian Turk families will be returned to Turkey after spending 71 years in exile. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of Foreign Turks and Related Communities teamed up to coordinate the travel of 677 families back to Turkey by the order of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Six hundred and five of the 677 families will settle in Üzümlü town of Erzincan, while the other 72 families will move to Ahlat town in Bitlis province.
The Meskhetian Turks fled their homes during the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Ukraine, of which the Sloviansk city was a part. Over 6,000 people have been killed and 1.4 million people internally displaced during the conflict since April 2014, according to UN reports.
The oldest member in the first group was seen leaving the plane praying in silence amid tears. “We have returned home. Turkey has taken care of us," İlimdar Nuriyev, 89, said as soon as he set foot in his homeland.
The new arrivals were placed in more than 30 flats constructed in Üzümlü by Turkey 's Mass Housing Administration (TOKI) at the instruction of the AK Party government.
Sabir Suleymanoglu, another new arrival, said they have realized their ancestors' dreams of returning to their motherland. "We have experienced lots of difficulties there. We did not know what we would do until Turkey embraced us," he said.
In April, the Turkish Council of Ministers enacted measures allowing at least 3,000 Meskhetian Turks to be accepted by the Turkish government as legal asylum seekers.
Some new arrivals were seen dressed in t-shirts depicting an image of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the slogan, “Erdoğan you are right" in both Russian and Turkish.
Saffet Safarov, wearing a T-shirt with an image of Erdogan, said he was very happy to return to Turkey, adding: “President Erdogan protects us."
The Turkish ambassador to Kiev, Can Tezel, said that around 9,000 Meskhetian Turks live in Ukraine. “The houses of around 3,000 Meskhetian Turks in eastern Ukraine were damaged. They were not able to farm there anymore and could not take care of their animals," the ambassador explained.
Meskhetian Turks are the ethnic Turks formerly inhabiting the Meskheti region of Georgia, along the border with Turkey. Today, they are widely dispersed throughout the former Soviet Union, the United States and Turkey due to forced deportations during World War II.
Under the rule of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union launched a persecution campaign against the ethnic Turkish population in Meskheti in early 1940s.
The strategic Turkish population was believed to have taken a hostile stance against the Soviet Union. In 1944, they were accused of smuggling and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border. Approximately 115,000 Meskhetian Turks were deported to Central Asia and only a few hundred have been able to return to Georgia since then.
