Searching for Home—The Meskhetian Turks
KAZAKHSTAN Spring 2008
Their little boy faces are like a history of Central Asia written in miniature.
First-baseman Arthur has sandy blond hair and green eyes. Russian in ethnicity as well as character, he commands respect on the baseball field, often overwhelming his opponents and teammates alike. Baxit, the team’s centerfielder, is a dark-skinned Uighur with the determined swing of a homerun champ. Timur sits behind the plate, a Kazakh catcher for an Uzbek pitcher.
Uzbek, Russian, Uighur, Kazakh: this unique baseball team playing on a weed-covered lot in the middle of Central Asia reflects the diversity of a land long traveled, much disputed, and now peacefully settled.
But there’s one more detail in the picture, one easily missed. His name is Max. He is not Russian, Kazakh, or Uighur. He is not Uzbek, though his long, straight nose and dark hair could peg him as one.
Max, at home in Central Asia speaking Russian as his first language, is actually a Meskhetian Turk. He is part of a diaspora of Turks spread across the former Soviet Union as a result of mass deportations by Josef Stalin during the 1940s.
Meskhetian Turks originate from a region known as Meskhetia in southern Georgia, close to the border of Turkey. The exact ethnicity of the Meskhetian Turks is debated; some claim they are ethnic Georgians who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule, while others insist they are truly Turkic in ethnicity, moving into southern Georgia before the time of the Ottoman empire.
Regardless, the Meskhetian Turks’ Muslim identity contributed to Stalin’s perception of them as a threat to his political and military goals. Labeled as an “untrustworthy population,” they and other smaller Muslim groups were forcibly removed from Meskhetia, deported in cattle cars to the Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Experts say as many as 20 percent of the total Meskhetian Turk population died within the first four years after deportation due to disease, cold and hunger.
Those who survived built new lives for themselves. Some, like Max’s family are now fully settled and thriving in Central Asia. Others, persecuted over the years in places like Uzbekistan and the Krasnodar region of Russia, have continued searching for a home.
Today, approximately 350,000 Meskhetian Turks live in nine different countries. In the past seven years, as a result of ongoing persecution in Russia, approximately 10,000 Meskhetian Turks have been allowed to resettle in the U.S. Their communities are now located in 33 states, with the largest located in Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois and Kentucky.
Despite upheaval and uncertainty, the Meskhetian Turks have held onto their cultural identity as Sunni Muslims. However, the Soviet Union’s efforts to promote atheism and squelch personal religious belief weakened their traditional religious practices and today they are not strictly observant Muslims.
With such a large population now living in the U.S., William Thompson*, an IMB worker with a special interest in Meskhetian Turks, is encouraging Southern Baptists to take the opportunity to get to know this unreached people group.
"Southern Baptist churches have a wonderful opportunity to reach out to this community," he says. "Our churches send us [Southern Baptist workers] all around the world to tell others about Jesus, but here is a people group coming to where our churches are. What an opportunity. I'm praying that churches will step up and join us in this work."
Max and his family, like most Meskhetian Turks, have had little opportunity to hear the good news that Jesus loves them. There are only a few known believers among this people group, and no churches.
*Names changed to protect believers. Photos do not depict the people in the story.
Pray for the Meskhetian Turks
- that those in the U.S. would hear and respond to the good news. Pray that God will call some of them to take the gospel to Meskhetian Turks living in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Russia and other former Soviet republics.
- that the men who serve as elders in their communities would believe in Jesus and lead their families and neighbors to Him as well.
- that they would receive mercy and justice instead of hatred and persecution in the countries where they are now living so that they will understand God’s personal love and attention to them as a people.
Learn more about the peoples of the former Soviet Union
Dagestan :: Kazakhs :: Kyrgyz :: Muslims of Moscow :: Tatar :: Turkmen :: Uzbek