The Repatriation Process of Meskhetian/Ahiska Turks to Their Homeland in Georgia: Challenges and Prospects
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THE REPATRIATION PROCESS OF MESKHETIAN/AHISKA TURKS TO THEIR HOMELAND IN GEORGIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY SERHAT KESKİN IN THE PARTIAL FULLFILMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SIENCE IN THE PROGRAM OF EURASIAN STUDIES SEPTEMBER 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sadettin Kirazcı Director (Acting) I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. İsmail Aydıngün (Başkent Uni., SİBU)________________________ Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün (METU, SOC) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant (METU, IR) ________________________ PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Serhat KESKİN Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE REPATRIATION PROCESS OF MESKHETIAN/AHISKA TURKS TO THEIR HOMELAND IN GEORGIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS KESKİN, Serhat M.S., The Program of Eurasian Studies Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün September 2019, 129 pages Meskhetian/Ahıska Turks are a Sunni Muslim, Turkish-speaking community, whose homeland is Akhaltsikhe (known as Samtskhe-Javakheti) in southern Georgia. They were deported by Stalin from their homeland to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan in 1944, and apart from some who managed to settle in Georgia, they have been unable to repatriate due to the preventive policies of the Soviet Union. When Georgia became a conditional member of the Council of Europe in 1999, the condition on organization of the repatriation of Ahıska Turks was imposed. Although Georgia enacted a law in 2007 related to the repatriation of Ahıska Turks, there has been little progress since that date. Based on fieldwork and interviews conducted in Azerbaijan (Baku, Saatlı, and Sabirabad) and Georgia (Nasakirali, Tbilisi and Tsitelubani) in 2015 and 2016, this thesis aims to analyze the repatriation process Ahıska Turks to their homeland following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and explain why this process has been ineffective. It is argued that the analysis of the related problems is threefold: passive role of the Council of Europe in monitoring the repatriation process, problems related to the implementation of the law of 2007, and concerns about a potential ethnic tension with the Armenians who lived in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. In short, this thesis argues that the iv ethno-religious nature of the Georgian nationalism and national identity have made the repatriation and integration of Ahıska Turks difficult. Keywords: Georgia, Meskhetian/Ahıska Turks, Repatriation, Council of Europe, Ethno-religious Nationalism v ÖZ AHISKA TÜRKLERİNİN GÜRCİSTAN‟DAKİ ANA VATANLARINA GERİ DÖNÜŞ SÜRECİ: ZORLUKLAR VE BEKLENTİLER KESKİN, Serhat Yüksek Lisans, Avrasya Çalışmaları Programı Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ayşegül AYDINGÜN Eylül 2019, 129 sayfa Ana vatanları, Gürcistan‟ın güneyinde Ahıska bölgesi (Samsthe-Cavahetya) olarak bilinen Ahıska Türkleri Sünni Müslüman, Türk dilli bir topluluktur. Stalin tarafından 1944 yılında ana vatanlarından Kazakistan, Kırgızistan ve Özbekistan‟a sürülmüşlerdir. Gürcistan‟a yerleşmeyi başaranların dışında, Sovyetler Birliği‟nin engelleyici politikaları nedeniyle ana vatanlarına geri dönememişlerdir. Gürcistan 1999 yılında Avrupa Konseyi‟ne şartlı üye olduğunda, şart olarak Ahıska Türklerinin geri dönüşünün düzenlenmesi talep edildi. Gürcistan her ne kadar Ahıska Türklerinin geri dönüşüne ilişkin yasayı 2007 yılında yürürlüğe koyduysa da, bu tarihten itibaren çok az ilerleme kaydedildi. 2015 ve 2016 yıllarında Azerbaycan‟da (Bakü, Saatlı ve Sabirabad) ve Gürcistan‟da (Nasakirali, Tiflis ve Tsitelubani) gerçekleştirilen saha araştırmaları ve mülakatlara dayanan bu tez, Ahıska Türklerinin Sovyetler Birliği‟nin dağılmasından sonraki geri dönüş sürecini analiz etmeyi ve bu sürecin neden etkin olmadığını açıklamayı amaçlamaktadır. Tezde, geri dönüşle ilgili problemlerin analizinin üç boyutlu olduğu savunulmaktadır: Avrupa Konseyi‟nin geri dönüş sürecinin izlemedeki pasif rolü, 2007 Yasası‟nın uygulanmasındaki problemler ve Samtshe-Cavahetya bölgesinde vi yaşayan Ermenilerle olası etnik bir gerginliğe dair endişeler. Kısaca, bu tez, Gürcistan milliyetçiliğinin ve Gürcü ulusal kimliğinin etno-dinî yapısının, Ahıska Türklerinin geri dönüşünü ve entegrasyonunu zorlaştırdığını savunmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Gürcistan, Ahıska Türkleri, Ana Vatana Geri Dönüş, Avrupa Konseyi, Etno-dinî Milliyetçilik vii To My Family viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor Professor Ayşegül Aydıngün. It has been more than six year from the day I first stepped in to her office as a senior student in Sociology Department. It‟s her huge support, enlightening guidance, infinite patience, and encouragement to go through countless number of drafts that made this thesis possible. I am also grateful to my examining committee members Professor İsmail Aydıngün and Associate Professor Işık Kuşçu Bonnenfant for their highly constructive comments. I also express my gratitude to Professor İsmail Aydıngün for his continued help. I would like to express my deepest thanks to my dear friends Hazar Ege Gürsoy Erdenay and Ahmet Erdenay who supported, motivated me during the writing of this thesis. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to my family – my brother, Murat Keskin, my father Ali Keskin and my mother Elif Keskin – for their support and understanding. Without their encouragement, life would be unbearable. Finally, I am also deeply grateful to all the interviewees who shared their views and thoughts with me. The respondents have been kept anonymous due to ethical concerns. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ .................................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introducing the Study ............................................................................................. 1 1.2. The Development of the Ethno-religious Georgian Nationalism in post- Soviet Georgia and Its Impact on the Return of the Ahıska Turks ............................... 5 1.3. Methods ................................................................................................................. 9 1.4. Chapters of the Thesis .......................................................................................... 11 2 THE HISTORY OF AHISKA TURKS ....................................................................... 12 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 12 2.2. A Brief History of Ahıska .................................................................................... 13 2.3. Ahıska Turks: Different Names for the Same Ethnic Community ..................... 16 2.4. Before the 1944 Deportation (1921-1944) ........................................................... 19 2.5. The 1944 Deportation and Life under the „Special Settlement Regime‟ till 1956 ....................................................................................................................... 21 x 2.6. The Removal of the Special Settlement Regime in 1956 and the Efforts of Ahıska Turks to Return to their Homeland during the Soviet Regime (1956-1991) ................................................................................................................. 24 2.7. The Repatriation Efforts of Ahıska Turks after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991-2019)........................................................................................... 32 2.8. Migration to Turkey after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991- 2019)……… ............................................................................................................... 37 2.9. Migration of Ahıska Turks from Krasnodar (Russian Federation) to the United States (US) ...................................................................................................... 40 3 THE GEORGIAN ETHNO-RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM AND ITS IMPACT ON THE RETURN OF AHISKA TURKS ..................................................... 44 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 44 3.2. The Rise of Gamsakhurdia and the Effects of the Georgian Ethno- Religious Nationalism