Appeal of the Council of World Tatars to the Ahiska Turk people on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1944 deportation!

Dear representatives of the brotherly people of Ahiska Turks!

On this sad day, when all concerned people remember the anniversary of the deportation of your people, the Council of World Tatars expresses our deepest sympathy and solidarity. We share your pain and understand the suffering and hardships your resilient people endured.

Eighty-one years ago, the Stalinist regime committed one of the most brutal crimes against humanity: the forced expulsion of an entire people from their native land. Despite the passage of time, Ahiska Turks cannot erase the horrors of the deportation, as an entire people was effectively declared an enemy and outcast.

Unfortunately, the Ahiska Turks, dispersed across various regions, were unable to communicate with each other for years and became the only Caucasian ethnic group among those exiled by Stalin who were never able to return to their homeland.

The descendants of the Ahiska Turks, who were expelled from their homeland, continue to live today in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and Turkey.

Despite the fact that you are scattered across different corners of the world, just like the Tatars, your people have not lost their identity, traditions, faith, language, and most importantly, the desire for unity and a speedy return to their native land!

We pray to the Almighty that this goal will be achieved as quickly as possible and that your people will once again find the happiness they seek in the land of their ancestors! You certainly deserve it.