A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF AHISKA TURKS: EXILE AND HISTORY

Abstract

The Ahıska Region, which constitutes the study area, is located within the borders of today's Georgia. Throughout history, the Ahiska Region has served as a gateway to the Caucasus. Therefore, the Ahıska region has a great strategic importance. In 1921, with the Moscow Agreement, the Meskhetian Turks came under the Soviet Union. The first exile took place on the orders of Stalin in 1944 and never again could the Ahiska Turks return to their homeland. Ahiska Turks who immigrated to Uzbekistan were subjected to bloody attacks here and had to migrate again. The last exile took place in the Krasnodar region. After Exile has experienced an intense wave of migration to Turkey and the United States. Ahıska Turks have been exposed to human rights violations and discrimination. Even today Meskhetian Turks return to their homeland and the struggle continues in this direction has found support from the Council of Europe and Turkey. The purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of exiles exposed to Ahıska Turks in detail and to examine the effects of these exiles on Ahıska Turks. At the same time, human rights violations and discriminations experienced by Ahıska Turks in the regions they migrated to were addressed. Despite all the pressures and assimilation efforts, the Ahıska Turks preserved their national unity and solidarity