Editing Meskhetian Turks (section)

===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]].