It is early to return Turk-Meskhetians

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgian authorities must postpone for several years the return of about 300 000 Turk-Meskhetians, Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of opposition "Democratic Front" party in the Georgian Parliament stated.



"Georgia is not ready yet to return Meskhetians who practice Islam, on their historical homeland. We say that first of all it is necessary to ask the population of Georgia what they think about returning Turk-Meskhetians. We think it is necessary to organize a national survey of public opinion for this issue. Political leadership of Georgia committed a big mistake by taking a responsibility in front of the Council of Europe in 1999 on returning displaced settlers to their historical homeland," the Georgian MP thinks, RIA "Novosti" reports.



According to the CoE commitments authorities of the country must resolve this issue till the end of 2001. About 300 000 so-called Turk-Meskhetians, i. e. Muslim Georgians who used to reside in the south-eastern regions of the country near the border with Turkey, in Meskheti were resettled in Central Asia in the mid of 1940ies by the order of the Supreme authorities of USSR. Currently descendants of resettlers live in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey.