Editing Meskhetian Turks (section)

== History ==
[[File:Distribution of Meskhetian Turks in Georgia 1926.png|thumb|250px|right|The area of distribution of Meskhetian Turks within [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSR]], 1926.]]

===Ottoman conquest===
By the [[Peace of Amasya]] (1555), [[Meskheti]] was divided into two, with the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]] keeping the eastern part and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] gaining the western part.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=xxxi}} In 1578, the Ottomans [[Lala Mustafa Pasha's Caucasian campaign|attacked]] the [[Safavid Georgia|Safavid possessions in Georgia]], which initiated the [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)|Ottoman–Safavid War of 1578–1590]], and by 1582 the Ottomans were in possession of the eastern (Safavid) part of Meskheti.{{sfn|Floor|2001|page=85}} The Safavids regained control over the eastern part of Meskheti in the early 17th century.{{sfn|Floor|2001|page=85}} However, by the [[Treaty of Zuhab]] (1639), all of Meskheti fell under Ottoman control, and it brought an end to Iranian attempts to retake the region.<ref name="Tomlinson 2005 loc=110">{{Harvnb|Tomlinson|2005|loc=110}}.</ref>{{sfn|Floor|2001|page=85}}

===Soviet rule===

====1944 deportation from Georgia to Central Asia====
{{Further|Deportation of the Meskhetian Turks}}

On 15 November 1944, the then [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]] of [[CPSU]], [[Joseph Stalin]], ordered the deportation of over 115,000 Meskhetian Turks from their homeland,<ref name="UNHCR 1999b loc=20">{{Harvnb|UNHCR|1999b|loc=20}}.</ref> who were secretly driven from their homes and herded onto rail cars.<ref name="Minahan 2002 loc=1240">{{Harvnb|Minahan|2002|loc=1240}}.</ref> As many as 30,000 to 50,000 deportees died of hunger, thirst and cold and as a direct result of the deportations and the deprivations suffered in exile.<ref name="Polian 2004 loc=155">{{Harvnb|Polian|2004|loc=155}}.</ref><ref name="Minahan 2002 loc=1240"/> The Soviet guards dumped the Meskhetian Turks at rail sidings across a vast region, often without food, water, or shelter.

According to the [[1989 Soviet Census]], 106,000 Meskhetian Turks lived in Uzbekistan, 50,000 in [[Kazakhstan]], and 21,000 in [[Kyrgyzstan]].<ref name="UNHCR 1999b loc=20"/> As opposed to the other nationalities who had been deported during [[World War II]], no reason was given for the deportation of the Meskhetian Turks, which remained secret until 1968.<ref name="Bennigsen & Broxup 1983 loc=30"/> It was only in 1968 that the Soviet government finally recognised that the Meskhetian Turks had been deported. The reason for the deportation of the Meskhetian Turks was because in 1944 the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against [[Turkey]].<ref name="Bennigsen & Broxup 1983 loc=30"/> In June 1945 [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], who was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, presented a demand to the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow for the surrender of three Anatolia provinces ([[Kars]], [[Ardahan]] and [[Artvin]]).<ref name="Bennigsen & Broxup 1983 loc=30"/> As Moscow was also preparing to support Armenian claims to several other Anatolian provinces, war against Turkey seemed possible, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Georgian-Turkish border where the Meskhetian Turks were settled and who were likely to be hostile to such Soviet intentions.<ref name="Bennigsen & Broxup 1983 loc=30"/>

Unlike the other deported Muslim groups, the Meskhetians have not been rehabilitated nor permitted to return to their homeland. In April 1970, the leaders of the Turkish Meskhetian national movement applied to the Turkish Embassy in Moscow for permission to emigrate to Turkey as Turkish citizens if the Soviet government persisted its refusal to allow them to resettle in Meskheti. However, the response of the Soviet government was to arrest the Meskhetian leaders.<ref name="Bennigsen & Broxup 1983 loc=31">{{Harvnb|Bennigsen|Broxup|1983|loc=31}}.</ref>
[[File:Ahiska Turk woman and her child.jpg|thumb|Meskhetian Turk woman and her child]]

====1989 deportation from Uzbekistan to other Soviet countries====
{{Main|Fergana massacre}}
In 1989, riots broke out between the Meskhetian Turks who had settled in [[Uzbekistan]] and the native [[Uzbeks]].<ref name="UNHCR 1999b loc=20"/> Nationalist resentments against the Meskhetians who had competed with Uzbeks for resources in the overpopulated [[Fergana Valley]] boiled over. Hundreds of Meskhetian Turks were killed or injured, nearly 1,000 properties were destroyed and thousands of Meskhetian Turks fled into exile.<ref name="UNHCR 1999b loc=20"/> The majority of Meskhetian Turks, about 70,000, went to [[Azerbaijan]], whilst the remainder went to various regions of Russia (especially [[Krasnodar Krai]]), [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]]<ref name="UNHCR 1999b loc=20"/><ref name="UNHCR 1999 loc=21">{{Harvnb|UNHCR|1999b|loc=21}}.</ref> and [[Ukraine]].

=== Khojaly Massacre  ===
Meskhetian Turk refugees who had been persecuted in [[Central Asia]] were forcibly relocated to the [[Azerbaijan]] where they settled in [[Khojaly (town)|Khojaly]] in Nagorno Karabakh before being subsequently massacred along with [[Azerbaijanis]] in 1992.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (Organization : U.S.)|url=http://archive.org/details/azerbaijanseveny00huma|title=Azerbaijan : Seven years of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh|date=1994|publisher=New York : Human Rights Watch|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-1-56432-142-8}}</ref> According to Thomas de Waal, Khojaly had been the focus of a large resettlement program by the Azerbaijan government in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>The Black Garden, Thomas de Waal, {{ISBN|0-8147-1944-9}}, Page 170</ref>

Russian journalist [[Victoria Ivleva]] took photos of the town streets strewn with dead bodies of its inhabitants, including women and children.<ref>Victoria Ivleva. The corpses of people killed during the Armenian attack in the streets of the settlement of Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh, February 1992. [http://www.fotosoyuz.ru/ru/catalog/picture/&frnepu=~Q0~98~Q0~92~Q0~9O~Q0~95~Q0~92~Q0~90~20~Q0~92~Q0~O8~Q0~ON~Q1~82~Q0~OR~Q1~80~Q0~O8~Q1~8S~20~Q1~85~Q0~OR~Q0~O4~Q0~O6~Q0~O0~Q0~OO~Q1~8O&cntvat_pheCntr=10&vqFrnepu=33674976?picid=fs-IVLEVAYORK-04/02/411.jpg&cat=&search= Photograph 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324034747/http://www.fotosoyuz.ru/ru/catalog/picture/%26frnepu%3D~Q0~98~Q0~92~Q0~9O~Q0~95~Q0~92~Q0~90~20~Q0~92~Q0~O8~Q0~ON~Q1~82~Q0~OR~Q1~80~Q0~O8~Q1~8S~20~Q1~85~Q0~OR~Q0~O4~Q0~O6~Q0~O0~Q0~OO~Q1~8O%26cntvat_pheCntr%3D10%26vqFrnepu%3D33674976?picid=fs-IVLEVAYORK-04%2F02%2F411.jpg&cat=&search= |date=24 March 2012 }}, [http://www.fotosoyuz.ru/ru/catalog/picture/&frnepu=~Q0~98~Q0~92~Q0~9O~Q0~95~Q0~92~Q0~90~20~Q0~92~Q0~O8~Q0~ON~Q1~82~Q0~OR~Q1~80~Q0~O8~Q1~8S~20~Q1~85~Q0~OR~Q0~O4~Q0~O6~Q0~O0~Q0~OO~Q1~8O&cntvat_pheCntr=10&vqFrnepu=33674976?picid=fs-IVLEVAYORK-04/02/412.jpg&cat=&search= Photograph 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324034829/http://www.fotosoyuz.ru/ru/catalog/picture/%26frnepu%3D~Q0~98~Q0~92~Q0~9O~Q0~95~Q0~92~Q0~90~20~Q0~92~Q0~O8~Q0~ON~Q1~82~Q0~OR~Q1~80~Q0~O8~Q1~8S~20~Q1~85~Q0~OR~Q0~O4~Q0~O6~Q0~O0~Q0~OO~Q1~8O%26cntvat_pheCntr%3D10%26vqFrnepu%3D33674976?picid=fs-IVLEVAYORK-04%2F02%2F412.jpg&cat=&search= |date=24 March 2012 }}</ref> She described Meskhetian Turks from Khojaly who were captured by [[Armenians|Armenian]] militants and she was hit by an Armenian soldier who took her for one of the captives when she was helping a Meskhetian Turk woman falling behind the crowd with four children, one of which wounded, and the other one newly born.<ref>{{cite web|date=2013-02-09|title=Дочь войны - Общество - Новая Газета|url=http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/6845.html|access-date=2022-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209102028/http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/6845.html|archive-date=2013-02-09}}</ref>

=== Russo-Ukrainian War ===
Around 2,000 Meskhetian Turks have been forced to flee from their homes in [[Ukraine]] since May 2014 amid fighting between [[Armed Forces of Ukraine|government forces]] and pro-Russian separatists. Turkish Meskhetian community representative in the eastern city of Donetsk, Nebican Basatov, said that those who have fled have sought refuge in [[Russia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Turkey]] and different parts of Ukraine.<ref name="worldbulletin.net"/> Over 300 Meskhetian Turks from the Turkish-speaking minority in eastern Ukraine have arrived in eastern Turkey's Erzincan province where they will live under the country's recently adopted asylum measures.<ref>{{cite web|title = Turkey welcomes Meskhetian Turks from east Ukraine - World Bulletin|url = http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/167797/turkey-welcomes-meskhetian-turks-from-east-ukraine|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160407014627/http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/167797/turkey-welcomes-meskhetian-turks-from-east-ukraine|url-status = usurped|archive-date = 7 April 2016|website = World Bulletin|access-date = 2016-02-03}}</ref>