Turks in Russia

Turks in Russia
Total population
(109,883 (2010 census)
75,000 Meskhetian Turks[1]
plus 130,437 Turkish nationals[2]
Total at least 120,000-150,000 (academic estimates)[3])
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Turkish and Russian
Religion
Sunni Muslim, Orthodox Christianity

Turks in Russia (Turkish: Rusya Türkleri) are Turkish people who live in Russia. The community is largely made up of Meskhetian Turks and expatriates from Turkey as well as children of mixed ethnicity.[4]

History

Ottoman migration

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 8,570 Ottoman Turks living in the Soviet Union. The Ottoman Turks are no longer listed separately in the census, as it is presumed that those who were living in Russia in the 1920s have subsequently either been assimilated into Russian society or have left the country.[5]

Meskhetian Turks migration

Turks in Russia according to the Russian Census
Russian census Turks
1939[6] 2,936
1959[7] 1,377
1970[8] 1,568
1979[9] 3,561
1989[10] 9,890
2002[11] 95,672a[›]
2010[12] 109,883b[›]

During World War II, the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey. Vyacheslav Molotov, who was at the time the Minister of Foreign Affairs, made a request of the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow that Turkey surrender three Anatolian provinces (Kars, Ardahan and Artvin).[11] Thus, war against Turkey seemed possible, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Turkish population situated in Meskheti, near the Turkish-Georgian border, since during the Russo-Turkish Wars the Turks of the region had been loyal to the Ottoman Empire and were therefore likely to be hostile to Soviet intentions.[11][12] In 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were forcefully deported from Meskheti, Georgia and accused of smuggling, banditry and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border.[13]

Soviet authorities issued an official ruling that 17,000 Meskhetian Turks, virtually the entire Turkish population in the Ferghana Valley, be transported to Russia. Another 70,000 Meskhetian Turks from other parts of Uzbekistan soon followed the first wave of migrants and settled mainly in Azerbaijan and Russia.

In the late 1970s, the Stavropol and Krasnodar authorities visited various regions of Uzbekistan to invite and recruit Meskhetian Turks to work in agriculture enterprises in southern Russia.[13] In 1985, Moscow issued a proposal inviting more Meskhetian Turks to move to villages in southern Russia that had been abandoned by ethnic Russians who were moving to the cities. However, the Meskhetian Turks response was that they would only leave Uzbekistan if the move were to be to their homeland.[14] Then, in 1989, ethnic Uzbeks began a series of actions against the Turks; they became the victims of riots in the Ferghana valley which led to over a hundred deaths. Within days, Decision 503 was announced "inviting" the Turks to occupy the empty farms in southern Russia that they had resisted moving to for years and around 17,000 Meskhetian Turks were evacuated to Russia.[1][15] Meskhetian Turks maintain that Moscow had planned the Uzbek riots.[15] By the early 1990s, the 70,000 Meskhetian Turks who were still resident in Uzbekistan left for Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine due to fears of continued violence.[1]

Mainland Turkish migration

During the 2000s, Russia witnessed increasing numbers of immigrants from Turkey; the number of Turkish labour migrants grew, on average, by 30–50% per annum.[16] By 2008, over 130,000 Turkish citizens were working in Russia; most Turkish immigrants are those who married Russians in Turkey and then came to reside in the homeland of their spouse. [16]

Demographics

According to the 2010 Russian Census, 105,058 people declared themselves as "Turks" and 4,825 stated that they were "Meskhetian Turks"; hence, the census showed that there was a total of 109,883 Turks living in the country.[12]

Federal subjects Turks (2002 census)
Rostov Oblast 28,285
Krasnodar Krai 13,496
Kabardino-Balkaria 8,770
Stavropol Krai 7,484
Volgograd Oblast 4,049
Belgorod Oblast 3,984
Voronezh Oblast 3,436
Kalmykia 3,124
North Ossetia–Alania 2,835
Moscow 2,358
Chechnya 1,662
Tyumen Oblast 1,203
Orenburg Oblast 1,199
Kurskaya Oblast 1,174
Astrakhan Oblast 1,128
Ingushetia 903
Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug 888
Orlovskaya Oblast 881
Karachay–Cherkessia 683
Tatarstan 540
Novgorod Oblast 495
Bashkortostan 470
Saint Petersburg 451
Samara Oblast 416
Ryazan Oblast 351
Smolensk Oblast 343
Moscow Oblast 341
Saratov Oblast 304
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug 227
Republic of Dagestan 181
Khabarovsk Krai 159
Tula Oblast 152
Kemerovo Oblast 143
Tomsk Oblast 107
Adygea 103
Chelyabinsk Oblast 101
Omsk Oblast 94
Novosibirsk Oblast 93
Sverdlovsk Oblast 82
Irkutsk Oblast 71
Lipetsk Oblast 69
Ulyanovsk Oblast 69
Kaluzhskaya Oblast 65
Krasnoyarsk Krai 61
Perm Oblast 61
Tver Oblast 60
Tuva 59
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast 55
Buryatia 54
Altai Krai 51
Kaliningrad Oblast 49
Sakha Republic 47
Primorsky Krai 45
Komi Republic 44
Kostroma Oblast 41
Vladimir Oblast 37
Leningrad Oblast 35
Udmurtia 30
Penza Oblast 28
Murmansk Oblast 24
Arkhangelsk Oblast 21
Ivanovo Oblast 21
Chuvash Republic 20
Bryansk Oblast 19
Amur Oblast 18
Mordovia 18
Kurgan Oblast 17
Republic of Karelia 17
Vologda Oblast 16
Khakassia 15
Tambov Oblast 13
Mari El 12
Yaroslavl Oblast 12
Zabaykalsky Krai 12
Pskov Oblast 10
Kirov Oblast 9
Kamchatka Krai 6
Sakhalin Oblast 4
Komi-Permyak Okrug 3
Altai Republic 2
Jewish Autonomous Oblast 2
Magadan Oblast 2
Taymyr Autonomous Okrug 2
Agin-Buryat Okrug 0
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug 0
Evenkiysky District 0
Koryak Okrug 0
Nenets Autonomous Okrug 0
Ust-Ordynsky 0
(Source: Russian census)

Discrimination

Meskhetian Turks in Russia, especially those in Krasnodar, have faced hostility from the local population. The Meskhetian Turks of Krasnodar have suffered significant human rights violations, including the deprivation of their citizenship. They have been deprived of civil, political and social rights and are prohibited from owning property and employment.[17] Since 2004, many are now leaving the Krasnodar region for the United States as refugees.[18]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ryazantsev 2009, 167.
  2. ↑ Ryazantsev 2009, 160.
  3. ↑ Ryazantsev 2009, 172.
  4. ↑ Ryazantsev 2009, 155.
  5. ↑ Akiner 1983, 381.
  6. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  7. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1959 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  8. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  9. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1979 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  10. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  11. ↑ Демоскоп Weekly. "Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года.". Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  12. 1 2 Демоскоп Weekly. "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 г. Национальный состав населения Российской Федерации". Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  13. ↑ Ryazantsev 2009, 168.
  14. ↑ Goltz 2009, 124.
  15. 1 2 Goltz 2009, 125.
  16. 1 2 Ryazantsev 2009, 159.
  17. ↑ Barton, Heffernan & Armstrong 2002, 9.
  18. ↑ Coşkun 2009, 5.

Notes

^ a: The 2002 census recorded 92,415 Turks and 3,257 Meskhetian Turks.
^ b: The 2010 census recorded 105,058 Turks and 4,825 Meskhetian Turks.

Bibliography

  • Akiner, Shirin (1983), Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-7103-0025-5 .
  • Aydıngün, Ayşegül; Harding, Çiğdem Balım; Hoover, Matthew; Kuznetsov, Igor; Swerdlow, Steve (2006), Meskhetian Turks: An Introduction to their History, Culture, and Resettelment Experiences (PDF), Center for Applied Linguistics 
  • Barton, Frederick D.; Heffernan, John; Armstrong, Andrea (2002), Being Recognised as Citizens (PDF), Commission on Human Security 
  • Bennigsen, Alexandre; Broxup, Marie (1983), The Islamic threat to the Soviet state, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-7099-0619-6 .
  • Blacklock, Denika (2005), Finding Durable Solutions for the Meskhetians, European Centre for Minority Issues 
  • Cornell, Svante E. (2001), Small nations and great powers: a study of ethnopolitical conflict in the Caucasus, Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1162-7 .
  • Coşkun, Ufuk (2009), Ahiska/Meskhetian Turks in Tucson: An Examination of Ethnic Identity (PDF), http://www.u.arizona.edu/: University of Arizona 
  • Goltz, Thomas (2009), Georgia Diary: A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus, M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 0-7656-1711-0 .
  • Kurbanov, Rafik Osman-Ogly; Kurbanov, Erjan Rafik-Ogly (1995), "Religion and Politics in the Caucasus", in Bourdeaux, Michael (ed), The Politics of Religion in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 1-56324-357-1 .
  • Ryazantsev, Sergey V. (2009), "Turkish Communities in the Russian Federation" (PDF), International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 11 (2): 155–173 
  • Tomlinson, Kathryn (2005), "Living Yesterday in Today and Tomorrow: Meskhetian Turks in Southern Russia", in Crossley, James G.; Karner, Christian (eds.), Writing History, Constructing Religion, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 0-7546-5183-5 .
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