Meskhetian Turks hold picket at Georgia's Embassy in US demanding return to homeland

Today, Meskhetian Turks have held a picket in front of the Georgia's Embassy in the United States, demanding to ensure conditions for their return to Georgia after their deportation 70 years ago.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that during WWII Meskhetian Turks (Turks-Akhiska), Karachays, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingushes, Balkars and Crimean Tatars were deported from their native lands. According to the International Society "Memorial", the number of victims of deportation among Meskhetian Turks and other nations of Transcaucasia reached almost 100,000 people.

"Our aim is to draw attention of the Georgian government to the problem of Turks-Akhiska... Despite the fact that the Georgian government had promised and undertook, back in 2001, when joining the Council of Europe, to settle the problem, unfortunately, this is still not the case – 99% of Turks-Akhiska can't return to Georgia," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Adil Bagirov, one of the protesters, as saying.

According to his story, for the majority of Meskhetian Turks, it is virtually impossible to return to Georgia, because of bureaucratic obstacles and burdensome formal requirements, such as the knowledge of the Georgian language, in order to obtain citizenship of Georgia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.