Turkey remembers 1944 deportation of Ahiska Turks

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey on Sunday marked the 77th anniversary of the deportation of Ahiska Turks during the Soviet era.

On Nov. 14, 1944, around 100,000 Ahiska Turks were deported from their ancestral lands in Georgia’s Meskheti region to distant parts of the Soviet Union, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Today Ahiska Turks, scattered across nine countries and numbering up to half a million people, never forgot their suffering and the importance of being united," the ministry said.

Despite harsh conditions, they preserved their identity for all those years and passed on their cultural heritage to future generations, it noted.

Turkey will continue to follow closely the return of Ahiska Turks to their motherland and to give necessary support to its kinsmen, it said.

"We share the pain of our Ahiska brothers and sisters who were forcefully deported; women, elderly and children, without differentiation," the ministry said.

"On the 77th anniversary of the deportation of Ahiska Turks from their homeland, we commemorate the ones who lost their lives with respect and mercy," It added.