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DELAYED-ACTION MINE: TBILISI HAS FOUR YEARS LEFT TO ORGANIZE MESKHETIAN TURKS' RETURN IN
by Anatoly Gordiyenko, Yuri Simonjan
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 26, 2007, p. 6
June 29, 2007 Friday
Meskhetian Turks' Return To Georgia May Foster Another Conflict;
Eager to be admitted into the Council of Europe, Georgia promised
to accept the Mekhetian Turks on its territory again. Tbilisi is now
trapped by the promises it made.
The parliament of Georgia adopted in the first reading the draft law
"On repatriation of victims of removal from Georgia in the 1940's".
The matter directly concerns the Meskhetian Turks, also known as
Moslem Meskhs, removed from the districts of Georgia on the border
with Turkey into Central Asia in 1944. Josef Stalin decided that the
Meskhetian Turks were loyal to Germany and its ally, Turkey.
Their return to Georgia became one of the conditions on which Georgia
was admitted into the Council of Europe in the 1990's. Tbilisi pledged
to keep its word by 2011. Failure to do so may cost Georgia membership
in the Council of Europe.
Parliamentary debates over the issue were heated and scandalous
but the draft law was adopted all the same. In the meantime, the
parliamentary majority cannot celebrate a victory yet. The issue
may well split society. After all, Georgia who pledged to receive an
entire group of people does not exactly have the territory for it.
Samtskhe-Javakhetia, the region from whose nearly 200 villages the
Meskhetian Turks were removed in less then twenty-four hours in 1944,
received its new population (Adjarians from the mountains) under
Stalin. Besides, nearly 150,000 Armenians have been living there since
time out of mind. Experts warn that all of this may create another
conflict, this time one with religious undertones. Even the part of
the population that backs the authorities in general objects to the
compact settlement of repatriated persons anywhere in Georgia.
Van Baiburt, deputy of the Georgian parliament and one of the leaders
of the Armenian diaspora, confidently claims that no repatriates
will return to Javakhetia and that there is no reason to fear an
ethnic confrontation.
"One thousand families at best may count on permanent residence here,"
Baiburt said and added almost 100 families had already done so in
the last decade. Twenty of them settled in the town of Samtredia
in the western part of the country and the rest in the Aspind and
Adigen districts.
Enemies of the draft law in the meantime claim that authorities do
not even know what the Mekhetian Turks' return to Georgia may result
in because they never bothered to try and analyze the consequences.
Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of the Conservative Party of Georgia, calls
the document "a delayed-action mine". "The opposition will do its
best to have the matter settled at a nationwide referendum," he said.
"The authorities only care about the 100 million euros the Council
of Europe promises for the repatriation project. Historic justice is
the furthest thing from their minds."
Georgy Khaindrava, former state minister for conflict settlement,
appraises the situation as grave. "Society is split over the issue,
and that is putting it mildly," Khaindrava said. "Bearing in mind the
procedures one has to pass to obtain citizenship in Georgia (language,
history, and constitution tests), we should actually expect between
25,000 and 30,000 repatriates. Even that is more than Georgia can
hope to cope with."
300,000 people without the native land
The International Society of the Meskhetian Turks Vatan registers
nearly 300,000 people. Almost 100,000 of them reside in the Caucasus,
Rostov, Stavropol, and Krasnodar (Russia), approximately as many
again in Kazakhstan, nearly 80,000 in Azerbaijan. Approximately 20,000
aspire for immigration into the United States and 5,000 are already
there. Only about 1,000 Meskhetian Turks have returned to Georgia
so far.
by Anatoly Gordiyenko, Yuri Simonjan
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 26, 2007, p. 6
June 29, 2007 Friday
Meskhetian Turks' Return To Georgia May Foster Another Conflict;
Eager to be admitted into the Council of Europe, Georgia promised
to accept the Mekhetian Turks on its territory again. Tbilisi is now
trapped by the promises it made.
The parliament of Georgia adopted in the first reading the draft law
"On repatriation of victims of removal from Georgia in the 1940's".
The matter directly concerns the Meskhetian Turks, also known as
Moslem Meskhs, removed from the districts of Georgia on the border
with Turkey into Central Asia in 1944. Josef Stalin decided that the
Meskhetian Turks were loyal to Germany and its ally, Turkey.
Their return to Georgia became one of the conditions on which Georgia
was admitted into the Council of Europe in the 1990's. Tbilisi pledged
to keep its word by 2011. Failure to do so may cost Georgia membership
in the Council of Europe.
Parliamentary debates over the issue were heated and scandalous
but the draft law was adopted all the same. In the meantime, the
parliamentary majority cannot celebrate a victory yet. The issue
may well split society. After all, Georgia who pledged to receive an
entire group of people does not exactly have the territory for it.
Samtskhe-Javakhetia, the region from whose nearly 200 villages the
Meskhetian Turks were removed in less then twenty-four hours in 1944,
received its new population (Adjarians from the mountains) under
Stalin. Besides, nearly 150,000 Armenians have been living there since
time out of mind. Experts warn that all of this may create another
conflict, this time one with religious undertones. Even the part of
the population that backs the authorities in general objects to the
compact settlement of repatriated persons anywhere in Georgia.
Van Baiburt, deputy of the Georgian parliament and one of the leaders
of the Armenian diaspora, confidently claims that no repatriates
will return to Javakhetia and that there is no reason to fear an
ethnic confrontation.
"One thousand families at best may count on permanent residence here,"
Baiburt said and added almost 100 families had already done so in
the last decade. Twenty of them settled in the town of Samtredia
in the western part of the country and the rest in the Aspind and
Adigen districts.
Enemies of the draft law in the meantime claim that authorities do
not even know what the Mekhetian Turks' return to Georgia may result
in because they never bothered to try and analyze the consequences.
Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of the Conservative Party of Georgia, calls
the document "a delayed-action mine". "The opposition will do its
best to have the matter settled at a nationwide referendum," he said.
"The authorities only care about the 100 million euros the Council
of Europe promises for the repatriation project. Historic justice is
the furthest thing from their minds."
Georgy Khaindrava, former state minister for conflict settlement,
appraises the situation as grave. "Society is split over the issue,
and that is putting it mildly," Khaindrava said. "Bearing in mind the
procedures one has to pass to obtain citizenship in Georgia (language,
history, and constitution tests), we should actually expect between
25,000 and 30,000 repatriates. Even that is more than Georgia can
hope to cope with."
300,000 people without the native land
The International Society of the Meskhetian Turks Vatan registers
nearly 300,000 people. Almost 100,000 of them reside in the Caucasus,
Rostov, Stavropol, and Krasnodar (Russia), approximately as many
again in Kazakhstan, nearly 80,000 in Azerbaijan. Approximately 20,000
aspire for immigration into the United States and 5,000 are already
there. Only about 1,000 Meskhetian Turks have returned to Georgia
so far.