Meet #HumanRights activist #SarvarTedorov-leader of deported #MeskhetianTurks who began his activism in Soviet #Uzbekistan fighting for right of his people to return to their homeland in #Georgia until violence in 1989 in #Fergana forced them to flee to #Russia. #Rehabilitation

#Tedorov is a walking encyclopedia of the #Meskhetian odyssey starting with #Stalin’s deportation of the group in 1944 to #Uzbekistan #Kazakhstan #Kyrgyzstan & the establishment of #Vatan-Soviet Union’s 1st underground dissident network that challenged Moscow’s authority

#Kremlin #Soviet #Georgia denied their right of return & over time #MeskhetianTurks adopted #CentralAsia as their home, still maintaining a distinct #Caucasus identity, special dialect of #Turkish influenced heavily by #Georgian culture in which they lived for hundreds of years.

1989: Amidst rising tide of assertive nationalism across much of Soviet space, violence erupts in #Fergana valley leading to ethnic clashes targeting #MeskhetianTurks. Many #Uzbeks & #Meskhetians believe violence orchestrated by #Kremlin. Tens of thousands forced to evacuate Uzb.

#Moscow evacuates tens of thousands to central #Russia while #Georgia continues to block their return, citing existence of other ethnic conflicts #Abkhazia #Ossetia & claim there could be violence btwn #MTs & ethnic #Armenians in #Javakheti. #MTs search for other places of refuge

While #MTs land everywhere from #Azerbaijan to #Ukraine, #Tedorov & several thousands settle on southern #Russia- #KrasnodarRegion-the closest they can get to their ancestral lands of #Meskhetia in southern #Georgia, and a new chapter of persecution begins.

Unlike other regions of #Russia, #Krasnodar authorities refuse to recognize the #MeskhetianTurks as citizens of newly independent #Russia, quickly creating tens of thousands of stateless persons. #Cossack vigilante groups & local authorities subject them to document checks, raids

Tensions rise through the 1990s in #Krasnodar as #Meskhetians find themselves increasingly subjected to violence while south of border #Tbilisi insists that to return to #Georgia the community would have to disavow unique ethnic identity & declare themselves ethnic #Georgians.

On #Georgia’s entry to @coe in 1999 it accepts obligation to allow #repatriation of #MeskhetianTurks. But process stalls almost immediately, leaving hundreds of thousands of #MTs scattered across post-Soviet space & Turkey. #Sarvar here travels to #Georgia to his native village

Eventually #Georgia adopts a problematic, limited repatriation law, but this does not come soon enough for the #MeskhetianTurks of #Krasnodar, whose situation becomes so dire that they appeal for #refugeeresettlement to #US @MarkJHetfield. #Sarvar & his people make the journey...

Between 2004-2006 @iom @StateDept resettles approximately 13,000 #MeskhetianTurks from #Krasnodar to the US, classifying them as nationals of #Uzbekistan-saving an entire people from persecution & rebooting a refugee resettlement program that had nearly shut down in wake of 9/11.

#MeskhetianTurks-also known as #Ahiska Turks (coming from the name #Akhaltsikhe in #Georgia)-like #BakuArmenians & Soviet #Jews are an extremely successful example of U.S. refugee resettlement policy at work. They’ve built productive lives in 15 yrs, not forgetting their history

Now #SarvarTedorov hopes to share history of his people w/ wider audiences in #Uzbekistan #Georgia #US #Russia (like so many Meskhetians he effortlessly switches between Russian, Uzbek, Turkish & now English) @barton104 Up until recently wld have been impossible to discuss in Uzb

Despite passage of 77 years, #Ahiska #MeskhetianTurks are still seeking #rehabilitation for #Stalin’s deportation & an acknowledgment that they were not “enemies of the people.” They’re also still fighting for #Georgia to acknowledge their rights to return w/out denying identity.

They seek open discussion of 1989 #Fergana events so that MTs now living in #Uzbekistan will be able to move past tragedy & modern #Uzbek history can be accurately told. It’s inspiring to witness such resilience in a tiny minority that has seen more than its share of suffering.