Meskhetian Turks
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| est. 400,000 to 600,000 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Georgia
|
1,500 |
 Kazakhstan
|
150,000-180,000 |
 Azerbaijan
|
87,000–110,000 |
 Russia
|
70,000–95,000 |
 Kyrgyzstan
|
42,000-50,000 |
 Turkey
|
40,000-76,000 |
 Uzbekistan
|
15,000-38,000 |
 Ukraine
|
8,000-10,000 |
 United States
|
9,000-16,000 |
 Northern Cyprus
|
180 |
| Languages | |
|
Turkish Azerbaijani · Russian · Georgian · Kazakh |
|
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Turks and Azerbaijanis (Qarapapaqs and Terekemes) | |
Meskhetian Turks also known as Meskheti Turks (Turkish: Ahıska Türkleri,Georgian: თურქი მესხები t'urk'i meskhebi) are an ethnic subgroup of Turks formerly inhabiting the Meskheti region of Georgia, along the border with Turkey. The Turkish presence in Meskheti began with the Turkish military expedition of 1578, although Turkic tribes had settled in the region as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Today, the Meskhetian Turks are widely dispersed throughout the former Soviet Union (as well as in Turkey and the United States) due to forced deportations during World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Turkish population in Meskheti who were likely to be hostile to Soviet intentions. In 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were accused of smuggling, banditry and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border. Expelled by Joseph Stalin from Georgia in 1944, they faced discrimination and human rights abuses before and after deportation. Approximately 115,000 Meskhetian Turks were deported to Central Asia and only a few hundred have been able to return to Georgia ever since. Those who migrated to Ukraine in 1990 settled in shanty towns inhabited by seasonal workers.
The origin of the Meskhetian is still unexplored and highly controversial. But now it seems to emerge two main directions:
However, Anatoly Michailovich Khazanov has argued that "it is quite possible that the adherents of this view oversimplified the ethnic history of the group, particularly if one compares it with another Muslim Georgian group, the Adzhar, who in spite of their conversion to Islam have retained, not only the Georgian language, but to some extent also the Georgian tradition culture and self-identification. Contrary to this, the traditional culture of Meshetian Turks, though it contained some Georgian elements, was similar to the Turkish one". Kathryn Tomlinson has argued that in Soviet documents about the 1944 deportations of the Meskhetian Turks they were referred to simply as "Turks", and that it was after their second deportation from Uzbekistan that the term "Meskhetian Turks" was invented. Furthermore, according to Ronald Wixman, the term "Meskhetian" only came into use in the late 1950s. Indeed, majority of the Meskhetians call themselves simply as "Turks" or "Ahiskan Turks (Ahıska Türkleri)" referring to the region, meaning "Turks of Ahiska Region". The Meskhetians claim sometimes that the medieval Cumans-Kipchaks of Georgia (Kipchaks in Georgia) may have been one of their possible ancestors.
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Wikipedia