88 Ahiska Turks in Ukraine’s Kherson transferred to Türkiye

ANKARA

A total of 88 Ahiska Turks living in the Ukrainian city of Kherson have been transferred to Türkiye via Russia and Georgia, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Nov. 20.

“We would like to thank the Russian Federation authorities for helping us with the passage of our compatriots whose documents are missing,” the ministry statement read.

“Our 88 Ahiska brothers, who were stuck in the city of Kherson in Ukraine, were brought to our country through Russia and Georgia upon our initiatives. Welcome to your homeland!” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu tweeted.

Ankara will continue to stand by Ahiska Turks wherever they are, he added.

Türkiye has evacuated several groups of Ahıska Turks, also known as Meskhetian Turks, from the region in eastern Ukraine since the Russian invasion that started on Feb. 24.

On Nov. 14, 1944, approximately 100,000 Ahıska Turks were expelled from their homeland Georgia’s Meskheti region to the distant parts of the Soviet Union.