The Mescheten (Ahıska Turkleri) are a Turkish-speaking ethnic group who lived in South Georgia (Samtskhe-Javakheti), near the Turkish border, until their forced resettlement in 1944. Today it is assumed that there are up to 600,000 Meshes worldwide, most of whom live in the successor states of the former Soviet Union, but also in Turkey and the United States.
Originally, the name "Meschete" or "Meschete" included all residents of the region (Meschetien / Samtskhe, the western part of the greater Samtskhe-Javakheti region), regardless of whether they were Georgian, Turkish, Russian or Armenian.
Several religions were widespread in the former Meshetia region:
1. Georgian Azerbaijanis have belonged to Islam since the 8th century and are Shiites.
2. The Turk Mesheth and the Chemschilij of Armenian descent have belonged to the Sunni school of Islam since the 16th century.
3. The Georgian-speaking Mes'chi, however, were Orthodox Christians.
After July 24, 1944, in the wake of extensive deportations according to ethnicity in the USSR, the Turkish-speaking Meshes were also deported to Central Asia. This also included Armenians and Georgians who had married into Turkish-speaking or Muslim families. But the losses were high: only a third of the Mesheds reached the new settlement areas.
Source: Wikipedia
Translated by Google •
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