Turkey to grant citizenship to Ahiska Turks in US

ANTALYA, Turkey

Turkey will grant citizenship to Meskhetian Turks, also known as Ahiska Turks, who are already U.S. citizens, foreign minister said on Monday.

"Turkey will offer double-citizenship to the Ahiska Turks who are already U.S. citizens and living in the U.S.," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at an event in the Mediterranean branch of World Union of Ahiska Turks in Antalya.

Turkey will coordinate with the World Ahiska Turks Association during the process, he added.

Cavusoglu said that Turkey also granted citizenship to Ahiska Turks living in Turkey.

Some 92,307 Ahiska Turks were expelled from Georgia’s Meskheti region by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1944, according to the World Ahiska Turks Association.

During nearly 40 days of deportation period from homeland to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, around 13,000 Ahiska Turks lost their lives due to hunger, cold weather and diseases, the association said.

Turkey has voluntarily accepted thousands of Meskhetian Turks upon President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s instruction.

Around half a million of Ahiska Turks live in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the U.S. and Ukraine.

*Writing by Sibel Morrow