Leyla DERVİŞ

The article briefly considers the history of the small nation - the Turks of Ahiska. The conclusions concerning the Genesis of this nation, the area of its historical settlement. The difficult conditions of the formation and historical development of Ahiska, caused by discriminatory policies towards them, primarily on the part of the Russian and Soviet governments, are emphasized. This policy had a clear tendency to tighten, thus, during the Russian Empire, only discriminatory measures were applied to the Ahiska Turks, then in the times of the Soviet Union deportation, as one of the most extreme forms of discrimination against an ethnic minority, became the country's main political method. At the same time, the collapse of the Soviet Union further complicated the lives of the Ahiska Turks. Hence, in Uzbekistan, they became objects of political repression and ethnic cleansing. In Armenia, as a result of the escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, they became refugees and in Russia they were subject to discrimination by the authorities and the Cossack community as they settled on the territory of the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. During the 1990s frequent ethnic riots began to erupt in these regions. At present, the Ahiska Turks are still far from solving the problems of national consolidation and return to their homeland. The article describes the individual stages of discriminatory policy, the main "waves" of deportation of Ahiska, in connection with which the conclusion is drawn that it is the government of the Russian Federation should be held responsible for the repatriation of Аkhyskins in their desired places of residence. The most realistic direction of the repatriation of Ahiska, namely the Republic of Turkey, is determined.

Keywords: Ethnogenesis, Ahiska Turks, Deportation, Georgia, Russian Empire, USSR, Turkey