Meskhetian Turks

Meskhetian Turkish identity took shape in the region of Meskhetia in southern Georgia, where the people lived for generations under strong Turkish influence, which shaped their language and their Muslim faith amid a majority Georgian population. In November 1944, under Stalin's orders, the Soviet regime forcibly deported the entire population of the region, around one hundred thousand people, to Central Asia, accusing the people of disloyalty because of their ties to Turkey.

Resettled mainly in Uzbekistan, they lived decades in exile until, in 1989, a wave of violence in the Fergana region forced them to flee again, this time to Azerbaijan, Russia, and other neighboring republics. This second displacement cemented the people's current dispersion across several countries, and they were never permitted to return en masse to their homeland.

Traditionally a farming people, the Meskhetian Turks are recognized wherever they settle for their dedication to working the land and their ability to thrive even in adverse conditions. This rural calling survived decades of forced displacement and starting over in new lands, from Central Asian republics to Russia and Turkey.

The extended family is the center of social life: it is family ties that sustain identity and pass down customs, language, and memory from generation to generation, especially important for a people who lived through successive exiles. Social cohesion is highly valued, and mutual care within the family network functions as a safety net amid instability.

The Meskhetian Turks are Sunni Muslims, and this faith is intertwined with the people’s very survival: it was partly because of it, and the ties it represented to Turkey, that they suffered the 1944 deportation. Professing Islam thus also became a way of honoring the memory of their ancestors and resisting cultural erasure.

The practice of the faith closely follows the traditional Islamic customs of their region of origin, reinforced by life in close-knit communities and the historical need to keep a threatened identity alive. Among a people scattered across so many countries, Islam functions as one of the few threads that still unites them despite the geographic distance.

The Meskhetian Turks speak a dialect of Turkish of Anatolian origin, close to standard Turkish, in which a complete Bible exists; many, especially in Russia, have adopted Russian as their everyday language, a language that has also had a complete Bible translation for over a century. Even so, the sacred text that actually shapes this people’s life is the Quran, and practically none of them have had any real contact with the Christian Scriptures. The barrier is not the lack of translation, but the spiritual and cultural distance that separates them from the gospel.

Meskhetian Turkish identity is deeply tied to Sunni Islam, so that embracing the gospel feels like abandoning one’s own people. The trauma of the deportation and the Fergana pogrom left a deep-rooted distrust of anything coming from outside, and the Christianity they know is that of the Russian Orthodox Church, associated with those responsible for their historical suffering, which closes the door to any message perceived as foreign. Living scattered as a minority across nine different countries, with no Christian community of their own nearby, many have never had real contact with a follower of Jesus.

After two great waves of forced displacement, the Meskhetian Turkish people carry a deep need for stability, recognition, and a place they can truly call home. Living as a minority amid majorities who speak other languages, many also face difficulties with documentation and full social integration in the countries where they have taken refuge. Behind these concrete needs lies the near total absence of any lived Christian witness among them, something that can only be met by those willing to walk alongside this people with patience and genuine love.