ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday received Ziyatdin Kassanov, the president of the World Union of Ahiska Turks, in the capital Ankara. 

Fidan met with Kassanov, and secretary-general of the association Fuat Ucar, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on X.

Ahiska Turks, also known as Meskhetian Turks, were expelled from the Meskheti region of Georgia by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1944.

They also faced discrimination and human rights abuses before and after the Soviet deportation.

Up to 500,000 Ahiska Turks are scattered across nine countries, including Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the US, and the Central Asian republics.