Until 1944 Meskhetians lived in Meskheti and Javakheti along the Georgian-Turkish border. For many years they were classified as Turks. In 1944, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin deported the Meskhetians to Central Asia, with thousands dying en route in cattle- trucks. Rehabilitated in 1968, they were not allowed to return to Georgia despite several attempts in the 1970s.
In June 1989 Meskhetians living in the Ferghana valley in Uzbekistan were attacked by Uzbeks and more than 100 were killed. Most Meskhetians fled to the Caucasus with more than 11,000 moving to the Krymski district in Krasnodar Krai. Georgia, through a combination of procrastination, local opposition and a lack of resources, has so far failed to provide mechanisms for a mass repatriation of the Meskhetians. Their original places of settlement in southern Georgia are not only amongst the country’s most economically depressed, but are also now largely populated by Georgia’s Armenian minority, which is strongly resistant to the return of the Meskhetians as representatives of the historical ‘Turkish’ enemy.
Meskhetians also faced strong opposition to their presence in Russia, especially from Kuban Cossacks. Some moved to Azerbaijan or settled in eastern Türkiye. In February 2004 a programme implemented by the International Organization of Migration provided opportunities for Meskhetians to be allowed entry into the United States. Thousands were subsequently resettled there.
While Meskhetian Turks did not experience marked difficulties in other areas of the Russian Federation, their treatment in Krasnodar Krai throughout the 1990s and the mid-2000s was characterized by social prejudice, official stigmatization and police harassment. Violence against the communities, including periodic pogroms, took place frequently during this period.
A bill formalizing procedures for the repatriation of Meskhetians to Georgia was passed in the Georgian parliament in 2007. Many reportedly experienced continued difficulties since then in securing Georgian citizenship.