Ahiska Turks: Not Quite Home
After 60 years of exile all over the ex-Soviet Union, many Ahiska Turks have now settled in Turkey, but their dream of returning home to the province they were deported from in Georgia is as strong as ever.
As immigrants here they have many cards in their favor, such as a shared culture and language, but also face some of the challenges other foreigners do, three generations of Ahiska Turks explained their situation.
Turks, not Kazakhs, Uzbeks or Kyrgyz
One of the first questions you're asked anywhere is about where you're from. The answer to this is a bit complicated if you're an Ahiska Turk as Stalin erased their homeland from the map after he exiled them to Central Asia in November 1944.
Ferman Yusufali, who is now 75, provided a clear, concise reply to that question, saying: "I was 10 when we were deported from the region in Georgia known today as Samtskhe-Javakhetia. It's on the border area with the Kars-Ardahan region in Turkey-covering some 6,000 square kilometers in the Caucasus. In the 16th century the Ottomans conquered our capital, Akhaltsikhe, and it became part of the Cildir province. Today that corresponds with the Turkish provinces of Artvin, Ardahan and Erzurum, the Autonomous Republic of Adjaria and Samtskhe-Javakhetia in Georgia. After the Treaty of Kars was signed in 1921 about a third of the province-including Samtskhe-Javakhetia-was ceded to the Soviet Union."
"Towards the end of WWII, Stalin deported the Ahiska Turks and 10 other ethnic groups (such as the Ingush, Crimean Tartars and Chechens) because they had either collaborated with the Nazis or he suspected they would," he went on, adding, "Even though at the time there were an estimated 40,000 Ahiska Turks in the Red Army some 120-140,000 Ahiska Turks (old people, women, children and men wounded in the war) were put in cattle wagons and deported to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Around 30,000 died from hunger, the cold and disease on the month-long journey. Some 27,000 Ahiska Turks were killed during WWII and we never found out where they were buried (we will never find out where my father was buried); many Ahiska Turk soldiers returning from the war never found their families. After Stalin's death in 1953 only the Ahiska Turks weren't allowed home because our homeland was on the border between the ex-Soviet Union and NATO. In 1965 restrictions on Ahiska Turks' right to movement within the ex-USSR were finally lifted and in 1981 my family moved from Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan, a country with a similar culture and language. We were treated very well there. That wasn't the case for Ahiska Turks in many other ex-Soviet Union countries though. Even though Stalin was gone they still encountered mistrust and discrimination in all aspects of life. That came to a head in1989 with violent clashes aimed at Ahiska Turks in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan in which 100s of Ahiska Turks were killed."
So how did it become possible for them to come to Turkey and why haven't they returned to their homeland? Ferman explained: "Many families moved here after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Turkey passed a special law in 1992, referring to us as 'Ahiska Turks' (not the Georgian term 'Meskhetians') authorizing our migration here. Initially 130 families were resettled in Igdir with help from the Turkish government. The same law also made it possible for us to become dual citizens. There are an estimated 200-300,000 Ahiska Turks worldwide (mostly in the ex-USSR) and since 1992 around 40-50,000 have moved to Turkey, with 700-800 famililes in Antalya. I moved to Antalya with my family and relatives in 1997. The Georgian government has passed law related to us returning to Georgia, but it's unsatisfactory. For example, it doesn't contain provisions for matters such as return of property or land or recognise the fact that we were deported."
At home in Turkey
Being an immigrant anywhere can be a very challenging experience. Culture and language are key factors to being able to make the transition from one country to another but the Ahiska Turks haven't found the process difficult given their Ottoman past. Over the past 60 years, wherever they have been, culture and language have been of the utmost importance them, a way to assert and maintain their identity. Added to which, their reasons for being here are more profound than for the majority of other foreigners.
Being Sunni muslims religious occasions, such as weddings, funerals, ramazan, bayram and circumcisions, are an important part of life as are family (with three generations living in one household) and respect for elders. Ahiska culture also includes popular beliefs found in Turkey, such as "nazar." Their folk music is similar that in Turkey, with the same instruments, but it also contains elements from Azeri, Georgian and Armenian. "We have a very rich culture," said Habibe Gülel who is 19 and studying politics at Ankara University.
Food can be a major issue abroad. Again this isn't the case for the Ahiska Turks as their cuisine is very similar to that found in Turkey. "We often eat ‘pilav,' ‘çorba,' ‘manti' (similar to Turkish manti but bigger), ‘dolma,' ‘kaymak,' ‘baklava' and ‘komposto,’ just like they do here. We also drink ‘ayran' and ‘serbet,'" explained Ismail Gulel, 55, who moved here from Kazakhstan with his family in 1993. "Of course, our food has also been influenced by where we've lived and includes dishes from the Caucasus as well as from Central Asia," he added.
Ahiska Turks have a major advantage over other foreigners here as they speak a variety of Turkish similar to the Kars dialect. For the most part it's a spoken language as in places like Central Asia they had little access to written Turkish of any kind before the 1990s. After that Gorbachev introduced a one-hour Turkish class once a week and Fethullah Güllen opened Turkish schools there. At home they spoke Ahiska Turkish and in the outside world used other languages which led to borrowing words from Georgian, Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek for certain things. In Azerbaijan the situation is different, for as Ferman pointed out, Azeri Turkish is studied at school and both Azeri Turkish and Ahiska Turkish use a great deal of Ottoman vocabulary and are largely untouched by Ataturk's language reforms of 1928.
"When Ahiska Turks first arrive here it takes them about three months to learn the Turkish spoken here," explained Habibe. "Some people-like my brother who was 14 when we got here-go on language courses to learn to read and write it," she added. Being here also deepens their knowledge of the language, as İsmail explained: "Although ‘Hurriyet' is a girl's name in Kazakhistan I didn't realise the name had a meaning until I got to Turkey." There are occasionally misunderstandings, however, such as when they reply "kendim," which comes across as very rude, instead of "anladim" (I understand).
Asked why he moved here from Azerbaijan, Ferman replied: "Because I'm a Turk and I wanted to find out what that really means." Others, such as Ismail, are very pleased to be in a country they feel safe after enduring decades of ethnic and religious discrimination under Soviet rule. "This is our fatherland; we're very happy here. Above all, here we no longer face the psychological pressure of a daily threat of violence against us for being Turks," Ismail explained.
Immigrants all the same
Ahiska Turks, the same as any other foreigner here, are also faced with the challenge of learning how things work in another country, such as how to find accommodation, how the health system works or where to pay your bills.
During their exile solidarity and mutual aid have been of the utmost importance to Ahiska Turks and the situation here is no different: throughout Turkey-in places as diverse as Hatay and Bursa-there are 40 Ahiska Turk cultural associations. These also function as a support network and drop-in centers, offering advice to Ahiska Turks from many ex-Soviet Union countries e.g Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan related to living in Turkey as well as on matters related to filing a land or property claim in Georgia.
The issue of employment is a matter of concern for Ahiska Turks. İsmail is among the few Ahiska Turks with a profession-he's a surgeon and now works at a state hospital in Antalya. He lamented that only 5 percent of Ahiska Turks are trained professionals as a result of discrimination in ex-Soviet Union countries. "In general they're unskilled workers," he explained, adding, "Many come to Antalya to work in the tourism sector in response to the demand for people who speak both Turkish and Russian. This was also the case for my family: we initially settled in Igdir in 1993 but both my sons came to Antalya to work in tourism." The whole family eventually relocated to Antalya in 2005.
Given the nature of the tourism sector many Ahiska Turks come for just the season and save money to take home. İsmail highlighted that in Kazakhistan, for example, the average monthly wage is $100 and that here they can earn from $400-1,000 a month. "It's not easy for seasonal workers as they work long hours, sleep 10 to a room and are fed badly," he emphasised.
The future
Turks are curious about whether foreigners intend to stay here. Asked where he sees himself in 10 years' time, Ferman replied: "I'll be here in Turkey; I'm tired of moving." For his part, İsmail said: "If the Georgian government doesn't amend its policies towards us then we will live and die here, always missing our homeland." Habibe replied: "If the circumstances change and we are recognised as ‘Ahiskas,' I would like to become a governor in our homeland. If that doesn't happen then I'd like to stay in Turkey and become a governor somewhere here. (Theresa Day, Antalya)
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