Original: Turkish 

SPEECH BY

YUNUS ZEYREK, PRESIDENT OF AHDEF

(INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AHİSKAN TURKS ) 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ON THE HOME VOYAGE OF AHISKA TURKS

(Istanbul, Turkey; 27 January 2007) 

Distinguished Chairman,

Honorable Ministers,

Honorable Deputy President of the Parliament, and its Members,

Distinguished Scientists,

Dear Representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations,

Dear Guests and Fellows, 

Mankind is searching for peace, prosperity and happiness. However, the things we are looking for are in our hands, if only we could understand each other, show respect for each others rights. It is not fair for one is flying high while the other crawling in hardship. Either we will all be free and happy or we will all share the same run of misfortune tomorrow if not today. You can not laugh in front of a crying one. We must never forget that the one, who’s laughing today, may be crying another day. As our ancestors say “do not let the oppressed take a sigh, and beware! You will pay for it by and by”. 

The 63 years old outcry of the Ahiska Turks (Meskhetian Turks) has been heard by the whole world, but the responsible ones are yet to hear them. 

The 21st century which we live in, should put an end to this shameful legacy left over from the previous century. 

This important meeting that is being held here today has been organized with a view to making a positive start for addressing the issue of the return of Ahiska Turks to their homeland. 

The issue of Ahiska Turks cannot be compared to any other issue. For the very simple reason that our people have not committed any crime, just the contrary they have always remained respectful to the laws of the state that have lived in. This community has scarified their youth by sending them to the frontline in the Second World War in order to defend the country while the rest has worked on fields to generate income to pay for expenses of the army.  

The state employed by force these people on railroad constructions without any compensation. While these people were expecting their children to return from the frontline via these railroads that they built, goods and animal wagons that would banish them from these roads arrived! 

All people living in this region were taken on a death journey with these animal wagons! They were told that they were taken temporarily to secure areas and they would come back soon, turned out to be sheer lies and they were fooled!  

Some of those who joined the army to defend the country were perished on the frontlines while  the war veterans with medals could not return to their homes, instead they were left alone to look for their mother, father, brother, sisters on the Central Asian desserts.  

Dear Friends,

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

We would like to call out to those engaged in human rights issues: What will be the rights of a community whose youth, with no military training whatsoever, has been used up on the frontline, and the others taken on a death journey? Who will ask this question? 

Has there ever been a more piteous, more brutal execution in the history of mankind? 

What else is it called genocide taking an innocent people altogether on a death trip? Or is this definition used only for certain privileged people?  

This was what exactly went on in Ahiska town and nearby villages in the middle of a winter night in 1944, and with Stalin and Beriya’s orders the innocent people of the region were banished altogether. 

Here we will not talk about the pain and the sufferings that this banishment has caused. After all, those who have suffered are still alive and among us. 

Today, some people and some members of the media are trying to upset the temper the governments by looking for tracts of human rights violations in the dumps of history. Yet they totally ignore the very tragedy of the people standing before their eyes.  

The misery of the Ahiska Turks has not drawn the attention of respectable newspapers, TV programs and newspaper columns. We are now, through the medium of this conference, calling for the champion of the human right defenders and media to hear us.  

The deported people were sentenced to live in camps for 12 years, and the deportation event was kept a secret even from the Soviet public. After the death of Stalin, a decree was passed finally in 1956 stating that from now on they are set free to enjoy the normal social and political life, and that they are free to live wherever they wish to, just like any other the Soviet citizens; however, these statements were remained as mere words on paper.  

Finally a second decree was passed in 1968 and carried the signatures of Soviet Podgorni and Georgian Georgadze but it turned out to be a repetition of the previous decree and shared same fate. Accordingly many applications for returning home ended up without result. Among those went to Moscow were not listened to, while those went to Tiflis were expelled and even arrested. 

Here it is very interesting to note that while all other communities that had been victimized by Stalin era have returned home, the Ahiska Turks are still kept waiting! 

We have been organizing this meeting in order to put an end to this frustration that has been going on for 63 years, and to take a serious step forward on the journey back home.  

Today as everybody knows the Ahiska area is located within Georgia’s borders. 

Ahiska people say this: “We have been forced out of our homes. We do not want to live in exile. Our ruinous and desolate homeland awaits us! We would like to go back there and rejoice the area. We do not want anything from anybody, we only want our land! We will come not for combat; we will come to restore our lands!” 

I firmly believe that everybody should hear this! It is indeed difficult to understand who would be disturbed by these requests and why? 

All we want is that the rights that were given on paper should be applied. 

The Republic of Georgia had promised to work on the home voyage issue of Ahiska Turks, to solve the problem and made a commitment to the European Council in 1999. The necessary legal arrangements were going to be carried out within the next 6 years and the return process was going to be accomplished by the year 2011.  

The Sevardnadze period was wasted, and no improvement was ever made. 

The Saakasvi government has appointed a ministry to deal with the subject. This concerned Ministry prepared a draft statute in 2006. In this draft statute, the homeland and national identity of the exiled Ahiska people have not been mentioned, and instead they tried to evade the real issue by employing vague and void expression in the Draft. Minister Haindrava, who has now been removed from the office, visited the Ahiska Turks in the countries that they lived in, held meetings, visited Turkey, and held the last meeting in Tiflis. In these meetings, no noteworthy and useful sentences were used and moreover, the public representatives were reprimanded and offended! 

The Georgian government states that it will accept the Ahiska Turks. But he avoids giving a specific calendar for the return. Moreover, in the talks that have been held, it has been stated that there will definitely not be a return to Ahiska, and that a quota of 100 families a year will be relocated in other regions of Georgia! 

But, all the exiled people have in their minds this question to pose: How can it be that we were banished in 2 hours yet cannot return to our homeland in 2 years? The answer to this question should be provided. 

It has been stated that these people cannot be named as Turks, since they are actually Georgian! This means that the identity and homeland of the people have also been questioned! 

Our people state that their ancestors have lived in these lands for hundreds of years, they were defined as Turks on the banishment decree and no one could be assimilated in the banishment years; therefore they will return to their homeland as they were before the banishment. 

The oldest Georgian historical resource Kartlis Ckhovreba as well as other credible Georgian historical resources records the presence of Turks in Georgia. If so, what are we discussing?  

Should we discuss our nationality now, while the wound is bleeding profusely? Should we discuss history? Who could possibly benefit from this discussion?  

Distinguished Chairman,

Dear Friends,

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

It must be known that the Ahiska Turks think of nothing but being loyal and hard-working citizens of the country they belong to, once they return to their homeland. No one should see them as potential enemies. They lived as Turks during the Tsarist Russian and Soviet periods, and this identity did not cause any problems within this period. No one should have the right to explicitly assimilate a human community before the world public opinion! States should think as the way they should! They should look after their citizens. 

Georgian writer Vacnadze said 55 years ago; “When Georgia lost its freedom in the 19th century, the whole of independent Caucasia went into captivity. After independent Caucasia collapsed in the 20th century, Georgia also lost its independence. This was always like this, and it always will be. Either we will be free all together, or we will be slaves individually. There is no third path that history offers.”

Now, we would like Georgia to hear this voice. 

A Turkish population lives in both Greece and Bulgaria, which are located alongside the west borders of Turkey. Everybody knows that Turkey has no ulterior motivations related to these regions.  

Turkey and Georgia, being allies, will benefit highly from the return of the Ahiska Turks to their homeland. Today, the Ahiska region is nearly totally abandoned. Many villages are empty; fields and gardens are in a miserable state. After the people were banished, life in the region degraded; in fact, it’s safe to say that it totally stopped. 

Let us assume that today there are people living in these villages and that the fields are farmed. Let us imagine how a hard-working population that has brought life to the desserts that it had been banished to, can bring a fresh life to this region. 

We should also take into account the fact that there should be a dependable component in this region which has become an energy corridor.  

Our people have suffered very much in the banishment period. It has been subjected to injustice that is inconceivable. During the times when the Soviet order was cracking, they were sacrificed to unthinkable provocations in 1989 in Uzbekistan. We want these days to be over. For this simple reason our people want to return to their homeland. They want to live decently in their countries. No one can say that they don’t have the right to ask for this. Ahiska Turks have are perfectly eligible for every humanly rights and aspirations as all people do. 

Today, Ahiska Turks, are scattered all over the world: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and USA. 

There is no other population in the recent history that has been subject to such massacre and that has been forced to live in eight different countries.  

Georgia is trying to delay the return of the banished population by giving excuse for the present conditions. 

The Ahiska Turks have no involvement whatsoever with the problems Georgia is currently facing. Therefore, problems that have nothing to do with this issue before us should not hamper the road to the homelands.  

Sometimes the ethnic factors in the region are mentioned. Our population has no problem with any of the ethnic groups in the region. No one should have any problems with us. The Ahiska region is our ancient homeland. It is our people’s right to return to their homeland. This matter has never been disclaimed. Therefore the rest is only a blind excuse. 

Today, about 80 villages of Ahiska are empty. The banished people should be relocated to these villages initially. Everyone in the other villages should go back to their previous locations, just as before the banishment.  

The parties of this historical event are evident: It is the Soviet Union that has sent our people to banishment. Today’s Russian Federation is the primary party since it is the inheritor of the Soviet Union; therefore it has to fulfill its responsibilities.  

The other party is the Georgian government that controls over the Ahiska region within its borders has been constantly refusing to let the people go back to their countries. Georgia, as a sovereign and independent state, should receive its old citizens with open arms, should not hurt them, admit that they have suffered so many wrong-doings and that their wounds will be healed; it should declare that it recognizes every right of these people. We have prepared our plan for the solution of the matter and communicated it to the Georgian Embassy in Ankara.  

Turkey, should not forget the responsibilities that it has shouldered in the previous international agreements. We would like to remind authorities the words of Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Kemal Bey, from the letter of instruction, dated 19th September 1920, that he sent to Kazım Karabekir Paşa before the Kars Conference stating “We should not forget the situation and the future of the Ahiska Turks while trying to protect Georgia” . 

The Ahiska Turks have come together many times in order to discuss the many subjects among which the primary issue is their homeland. However, we have come to the conclusion that no problem can be solved before we have our homeland. How can it be that these people have to suffer such uncertainty? 

The three states that we have mentioned here have to establish units related to the Ahiska Turks within their administration mechanisms, coordination should be provided between these units and our people should not be left in the hands of those that feed the deadlock. 

Today, this conference must declare that the way the Ahiska Turks have been treated is a crime against humanity, condemn Stalin and Beriya, and the countries responsible should state plainly their plan of action for the solution of this long-standing issue. 

I plead that conclusive solutions are to put forward in this meeting and the interlocutors of the solution should be identified. We should have concrete things to say to the Ahiska Turks, Turks and to the rest of the world once we leave this room.  

Before concluding I thank you all for attending this meeting that, we hope, will be a very important turning point for the Ahiska Turks and history of mankind. I hope this will be a fruitful conference.  

I salute this supreme group with respect.