Legacy of 1944 deportation still affects Ahiska Turks decades later, says sociologist

​​​​​​​By Marina Mussa

ISTANBUL (AA) - The legacy of the 1944 deportation of Ahiska, or Meskhetian Turks, a group rooted in Georgia living near the Turkish border, continues to affect younger generations decades later through family dynamics, cultural and social memory and even biological factors, according to Ebulfez Suleymanli, a sociologist at Istanbul's Uskudar University.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s mass repressions of the 1940s, which affected dozens of communities from the Caucasus to Crimea, remain one of the most traumatic periods in the region’s history.

Speaking to Anadolu, Suleymanli said that traumatic memory is carried not only through explicit stories but also through silence, unspoken grief and long-established emotional patterns within households. Cultural forms such as oral histories, songs, stories and communal rituals also help sustain the memory of displacement, turning it into a core element of collective identity.

- Dual effect of displacement

He explained that the inherited trauma produces a dual effect -- vulnerability and resilience coexist within today’s Meskhetian youth.

Suleymanli noted that decades of repeated migrations, from Meskheti, Georgia to Central Asia and later to Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the US -- have contributed to feelings of insecurity, fear of exclusion and a persistent struggle to establish a stable sense of belonging.

The experiences, he said, often reinforce a sense of “rootlessness,” particularly among young people who grew up in multiple social environments.

At the same time, the sociologist highlighted that enduring cultural markers -- Turkish identity, language, religious practices and strong family ties -- have helped preserve continuity across generations.

The elements create protective social bonds and can transform trauma into a source of determination, solidarity and communal strength.

- Ongoing challenges

Suleymanli added that the widespread question among young Ahiska Turks -- “Where do we belong?” -- is shaped by the historical memory of deportation and the realities of the present.

Ongoing challenges such as citizenship issues, legal status, diploma recognition, discrimination and economic insecurity deepen the sense of living between multiple identities and belonging to none fully.

Although intergenerational trauma cannot be completely removed, Suleymanli emphasized that its effects can be alleviated or reshaped.

He advocated for open communication within families, allowing past experiences to be discussed without burdening younger generations and creating supportive environments where youth can express their identities freely.

On a societal level, he urged improved access to education, employment and citizenship processes to strengthen the sense of belonging.

He also underlined the importance of preserving Ahiska history through research, archives and oral-history projects so the community’s collective memory can serve as a foundation for identity rather than a continued source of silent pain.

- 1944 deportation

On Nov. 14, 1944, Soviet authorities accused residents of Akhaltsikhe, the capital of the Meskheti region in southwestern Georgia, of “threatening state security.”

Within hours, more than 90,000 people, including women, children and the elderly, were forcibly removed from their homes and loaded into cargo wagons.

The deportees were transported for more than a month to remote parts of Central Asia, and historians estimate that around 17,000 died on the way from hunger, cold and disease.