No: 375, 14 November 2021, Press Release Regarding the 77th Anniversary of the Deportation of Ahıska Turks from their Homeland in Ahıska

Republic Of Türkiye Ministry Of Foreign Affairs 14.11.2021

Nearly a hundred thousand Ahıska Turks were deported from their ancestral lands in the Ahıska region of Georgia, to distant regions of the Soviet Union on 14 November 1944.

Today Ahıska Turks, scattered across nine countries and numbering up to half a million people, never forgot their suffering and the importance of being united.

Despite harsh conditions, they preserved their identity for all those years and passed their cultural heritage onto future generations.

As before, we will continue to follow closely the return of Ahıska Turks to their motherland and to give necessary support to our kinsmen.

We share the pain of our Ahıska brothers and sisters who were forcefully deported; women, elderly and children, without differentiation.

On the 77th anniversary of the deportation of Ahıska Turks from their homeland, we commemorate the ones who lost their lives with respect and mercy.

Atatürk

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