Country: Russia

Group: Meskhetian

Date Finalized: 04/19/2023

Team: Likith Munigala (lead), Madison Schulz, Kelly Hashiro, Jhanz Marco Garcia, Jacob Kebe, Zaida Arellano Reyes

Content Warning: Targeted homicide, lethal violence, discrimination, displacement, starvation, physical violence.

Approximate Time Period: 1940s – 2010s

Under the Treaty of Kars in 1921, the Meskhetian region (present day southern Georgia) split into two regions, with Turkey receiving the bottom portion of the region, and the Soviet Union receiving the upper third. In the 1940s, Stalin’s administration deported thousands of Meskheitians, letting them starve and die of illness during the process of transportation (Swerdlow 2006; Aydıngün et al. 2006). In 1989, the killing of approximately 97 Meskhetians and over a thousand Meskhetians occurred in the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan, this incident is now deemed the Fergana Incident (Cultural Survival Quarterly, n.d.). Even in recent years, lethal violence cases are still observed. In 2010, an attack on the Meskhetian Turkish village in Kyrgyzstan caused 5 deaths (Reuters, 2010). On April 19, 2010, hundreds of Russian squatters attacked Meskheitans in Maeva which resulted in five deaths and left twenty-eight injured (Otunbaeva, 2010; Trilling, 2010). In 2013, Russian locals attacked a Meskhetian wedding ceremony, targeting even women and children and beating them (Cobb 2013). While ethnic violence persists against the Meskhetians, many do not report it out of fears of retaliation against their claims. The evidence solidifies the case for lethal violence against Meskhetians in Russia due to the targeted nature of attacks towards the ethnic group.

Data Quality: Data Quality for Lethal Violence against Meskheitans in Russia is rated a 3/3 due to sources utilized being composed of multiple non-biased articles from diverse backgrounds.

Sources

  1. Ayşegül Aydıngün, Çigğdem Balım Harding, Matthew Hoover, Igor Kuznetsov, and Steve Swerdlow. (2006). Meskhetian Turks- An Introduction to their History, Culture and Resettlement Experiences. Cultural Orientation Resource Center. 1-5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45666400_Meskhetian_Turks_an_introduction_to_their_history_culture_and_resettlement_experiences
  2. Swerdlow, S. (2006). Understanding Post-Soviet Ethnic Discrimination and the Effective Use of U.S. Refugee Resettlement: The Case of the Meskhetian Turks of Krasnodar Krai. California Law Review, 94(6), 1827–1878. https://doi.org/10.2307/20439082
  3. Cultural Survival. (n.d.). Population transfer: The tragedy of the Meskhetian Turks. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/population-transfer-tragedy-meskhetian-turks#:~:text=This%20was%20the%20case%20up,were%20burned%20to%20the%20ground
  4. Meskhetians or Meskhetian Turks. Minority Rights Group. (2021, February 6). Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/meskhetians-or-meskhetian-turks/
  5. Reuters. (2010, April 20). Kremlin says it will protect Russians in Kyrgyzstan. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63J0N1.
  6. Trilling, D. (2010). Meskhetian Turks targeted in Kyrgyz ethnic violence. Eurasianet. https://eurasianet.org/meskhetian-turks-targeted-in-kyrgyz-ethnic-violence
  7. Otunbaeva, R. I. (2010). Letter to the head of Interim Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/04/26/letter-head-interim-government-kyrgyz-republic#:~:text=Areas%20of%20the,Kyrgyz%20among% 20others.
  8. Cobb, R. (2013, November 27). Meskhetian Turks: Ten Years On. RefWorld. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/5296fd8b4.html