ISTANBUL

Türkiye on Friday marked the 81st anniversary of the mass deportation of Meskhetian Turks from Georgia’s Ahiska (Akhaltsikhe/Meskheti) region, commemorating those who perished during the 1944 exile.

In a written statement, the Foreign Ministry told how on Nov. 14, 1944, nearly 100,000 Meskhetian Turks were forcibly uprooted from their centuries-old homeland in the Ahiska region of the then-Georgian Soviet Republic – bordering Turkiye – and sent to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

Thousands died from hunger, cold, and disease during the harsh journey, it added.

“On the 81st anniversary of the deportation, we remember with sorrow this great tragedy and respectfully commemorate our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in exile,” the statement said.

It emphasized that despite immense suffering, the surviving Meskhetian Turks managed to preserve their identity, language, faith, and cultural traditions, passing them on to future generations.

Türkiye also reiterated its hope that the process enabling Meskhetian Turks to return to their ancestral homeland will be completed successfully.

1944 deportation

On Nov. 14, 1944, Soviet authorities accused residents of Akhaltsikhe, capital of the Meskheti region in southwestern Georgia, of “threatening state security.”

Within hours, more than 90,000 people – including women, children, and the elderly – were forcibly removed from their homes and loaded into cargo wagons.

The deportees were transported for over a month to remote parts of Central Asia, with around 17,000 dying on the way from hunger, cold, and disease, according to historians’ estimates.