



































International Journal of Biological Engineering and Agriculture


American Journal of Science and  

Learning for Development 
 

Volume 1 | No 2 | Dec-2022 

 

 

 
Published by inter-publishing.com  |  All rights reserved. © 2022 
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Page 87 

 

 

 
Deportation of Meskheti Turkish People: Its Causes and Consequences 

 
 

O. O. Bozorov 
 

 
Kokand State Pedagogical Institute 
  
  
 

Abstract: The article analyzes the deportation policy of the Soviet state in the 30s and 50s of the XX 

century and its consequences. It also seeks to shed light on various aspects of the migration of 

Meskhetian Turks to their homeland in the Fergana Valley in the 1980s. 
 
Keywords: Deportation, repression policy, national issues, Vatan international community, border 

security, border zone, historical justice. 

 
  
The policy of repression of peoples, that is, deportation [1] became a component of the policy of the 

former Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1950s. Especially during the Second World War, the former 

Soviet state intensified its policy of repression against the peoples within it. The peoples living in the 

border regions - Finns, Poles, Kurds, later Meskheti Turks, Khamshals - were forcibly deported to 

other regions of the country for the sake of political interests, i.e. to ensure "border security" [2]. 

During the regime of I. V. Stalin, one of the peoples who suffered from the deportation policy and 

were subjected to violence was the Turkish people. They have lived for centuries in the historical 

Meskheti-Javakheti region of Georgia, in the southwestern part of present-day Georgia. 

On November 14, 1944, a decree was issued to deport citizens whose mosques belonged to the 

Turkish nationality from their homes to Central Asia. Although the reason for the relocation was not 

explained in the decree [3], the presumed disloyalty to the Soviet authorities, i.e., the possibility of 

crossing over to the side of a hostile neighboring country - Turkey, like other forcibly relocated 

peoples, was considered the "guilt" of this people and was the "ground" for the relocation [4]. . 

However, during the Second World War, more than 40 thousand men of this "guilty" nation 

participated in the war on the part of the former Soviet state and sacrificed more than 26 thousand 

people in exchange for protecting the territory of the Soviet state [5]. The alleged injustice 

(deportation) against them was actually no less than the crimes committed by the Nazis during the 

Second World War. 

Suleiman Barbakadze, the president of the International Society of Turks of the "Vatan" mosque 

operating in Moscow, told "Nezavisimaya newspaper" that over 92,000 people were displaced from 

224 villages of Georgia in about one night [6]. Deportation of Meskheti Turks was completed in 

January 1945 [7]. It should also be noted that the exact number of Turks expelled from Georgia as a 

result of deportation cannot be determined (their number is indicated in the literature from 96,000 to 

200,000 [8]), because it is not known how many of them died during the deportation [9]. Also, for a 

long time, the number of people of Meskheti Turks remained uncertain, because the majority of 

people belonging to the Meskheti Turk nationality were registered as belonging to the Azerbaijani 

and Georgian nationalities in the state statistical documents. In 1956, they were informed that the 

forced resettlement of Turks to Central Asia and Kazakhstan was cancelled. However, at that time, 

their historical place of residence was included in the so-called border zone - a separate territory 

along the border of the USSR. Coming to this place and living in it was strictly restricted. In fact, it 



 

American Journal of Science and  Learning for Development Volume 1, No 2|    
Dec - 2022 

 

 
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was another injustice done to the Turks, saying that they were forbidden to return to their country 

[10]. 

Thus, in 1944, most of the Meskheti Turks deported to Central Asia were settled in Uzbekistan. 

In Uzbekistan, one of the large groups of Meskheti Turks was settled in the Ferghana region. Their 

largest local groups lived in the city of Kuvasoi, as well as in the cities of Fergana, Margilan, Kokan, 

Toshlok, Komsomol town, several villages of Kirguli, Okhunboboev (former Margilan), Kuva, 

Rishton, and other places of Fergana region. A number of such families were also among the 

residents of Gorky town in the Kirov region, west of Kokan [11]. 

After settling in our republic, most Turks living in Tashkent and Syrdarya region were mainly 

engaged in agricultural production, while representatives of these people living in Samarkand region 

and Fergana valley were engaged in industrial and construction work [12]. 

Although the Meskheti Turk people lived peacefully in Uzbekistan for a long time, their desire to 

return to their homeland did not disappear. This idea has been passed down from one generation to 

the next. For this purpose, they held meetings several times during the former Soviet period. In 

particular, 10 meetings were held from 1962 to 1989 [13]. Their main goal, i.e. returning to their 

homeland, was discussed at these meetings. The repatriation activities of the Meskheti Turkish 

people have become particularly active in the Fergana region, especially in the city of Kuvasoy, 

where they lived in large numbers. Activists of these people demanded to resolve their national 

issues before the Center (Moscow) and transfer their homeland to the southern regions of the 

Georgian SSR. In this respect, they formed an initiative group, sent their representatives to the 

Center several times, held meetings among the population and discussed ways to solve their national 

issues. 

Field surveys showed that almost all Turks wanted to return to their motherland. They believed that 

the solution to this problem lied in the removal of restrictions on migration to Meskhet-Javakheti 

regions [14]. Therefore, they appealed to the higher authorities of the USSR 154 times for the return 

to Meskhetia for 45 years [15]. However, this restriction was not removed from 1944, when the 

Turks were deported, until the end of the 80s. 

In the second half of the 80s of the 20th century, the leadership of the USSR did not have the 

opportunity to solve the national issue related to the return of Meskheti Turks to their homeland, nor 

was it interested in it. It was also influenced to some extent by the fact that it was hindered by the 

Georgian SSR [16]. Because Georgians now live in the areas where the Turkish people were 

deported, restoration of historical justice could cause new problems in Georgia. At the same time, the 

main reason for the deportation of the Meskheti Turks from the Georgian SSR, that is, the danger of 

their merging with their blood relatives in Turkey, was still a cause of concern for the Soviet 

leadership. This factor was the main obstacle to their migration to their homeland. The well-known 

Georgian writer Ch. Amiredjibi also expresses a similar opinion. In his opinion, if the Meskhetian 

Turks were settled in the Caucasus, then the position of the Islamic religion will be strengthened 

there. This situation could have caused the region to completely fall out of the hands of the Russians 

[17]. 

In such conditions, the leadership of the Center could not remain indifferent to the processes of 

national revival in Uzbekistan (this process intensified in the late 80s of the 20th century and 

ultimately required the declaration of independence of Uzbekistan from the USSR) and the national 

problem of the Turkish people. Because these factors could serve as an accelerating factor of the 

process of disintegration of the Union. 

The similarities between the inter-ethnic conflicts that took place in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and 

Azerbaijan, the Baltic republics, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and other places of 

the Soviet Union in the late 80s of the 20th century indicate that the conflicts in these regions were 

part of the Soviet national policy in the previous period. As well as being the result of mistakes 

made, the Center had a direct hand in their origin. 



 

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Among these conflicts, the bloody event that took place in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan in May-

June 1989, which was called the "inter-ethnic conflict" between Meskheti Turks and Uzbeks, caused 

a great stir. The special bodies of the former Soviet state, which took advantage of the conflicts in 

the socio-economic spheres that had been ignored for years, organized the "Fergana events". Uzbeks 

and Meskhetian Turks had nothing to do with the origin of this tragedy. In fact, as mentioned above, 

the inter-ethnic conflicts in Uzbekistan were necessary for the Center to pursue a tougher policy. 

To make a story short, the national policy of the former Soviet state, based on the Marxian-Leninist 

doctrine, imbued with the spirit of colonialism, denying nationality, aimed at its loss, had an active 

negative effect on the national problems and the complication of inter-ethnic relations in the 

Ferghana Valley in the 80s of the 20th century. 

List of used literature 

1. The term "deportation" means "forcible removal" or "exile" in Latin. 

2. Rahmonkulova A. Repressive policy of the Soviet system in the 30-50s and its methods. // 

"History of Uzbekistan". 2000. No. 1-2. – p. 98. 

3. Soviet Uzbekistan. September 15, 1988. No. 212 (20.180). 

4. Moskovskie novosti. June 18, 1989 No. 25. 

5. Max Lure, Petr Studenikin. Zapakh gari i gorya. Fergana, trevojnyy June 1989. Moscow, Kniga. 

1990. Art. 36. 

6. Central Asian news. Anatoly Gordienko. Nezavisimaya newspaper. 16. 10. 2005. 

7. Yunusov. Akhyskinskie (Meskhetinskie) Turki: dvajdy deportirovannyy narod. Tsentralnaya 

Asia i Kavkaz, No. 1 (2) Sweden p. 170. 1999 g. 

8. A. Yunusov. Akhyskinskie (Meskhetinskie) Turki: dvajdy deportirovannyy narod. Tsentralnaya 

Asia i Kavkaz #1 (2). Sweden S. 170. 1999 g; Soviet Uzbekistan. September 15, 1988. No. 212 

(20.180). Stoletie. (Internet newspaper) December 24, 2009; Sh. Abdullaev Ethno-social and 

ethno-political processes in the Fergana Valley (main problems, tendencies and contradictions of 

the 70-80s of the XX century) ist. doc. S. 233 1994; B. Aliev. Meskhetiya i meskhi (Turkish-

meskhetintsy): ethnopolitical history of the nation. Tsentralnaya Asia i Kavkaz No. 1 (19) 2002, 

Sweden. Str. 184. 

9. Moskovskie novosti. June 18, 1989 No. 25. 

10. Moskovskie novosti. June 18, 1989. No. 25. 

11. A. G. Osipov. Ferganskie sobytiya in 1989. - M.: Nauka, 2004. - Str. 168 

12. A. G. Osipov. Ferganskie sobytiya in 1989. - M.: Nauka, 2004. - Str. 167 

13. E.E. Panesh, L.B. Ermolaev. Meskhetinsky Turki: dynamics of ethnocultural and socio-political 

changes. "Eastern Literature", 1993. 

14. Moskovskie novosti. June 18, 1989 No. 25. 

15. The art of conspiracy. Book 1. T, Science. 1993, p. 149 

16. Young Leninist. June 16, 1989. 

17. http:www.ca-c.-org/journal/10-1997/st 15enoh htm. 

 


