Ahiska Turks Lecture ft. Sırrı Hakan Kırımlı of Bilkent University

Around 200 families of Meskhetian Turks make up a small but unique portion of the residents of Atlanta, Georgia. Being uprooted in 1944 from their homeland (the Meskheti region of the then Soviet Union) about 115,000 Meskhetian Turks were forced to live in exile for decades within different parts of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1989. Many of them are still stateless, leaving them without a home country that offers them citizenship or a passport for travel. Many of them are refugees in various corners of the world.

This lecture will give some insight about the dramatic story of these people. All are welcome; no RSVP required. Contact agsc@iac.gatech.edu for more information.

Co-sponsored by the Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC), a consortium of Georgia Institute ofTechnology and Georgia State University, funded in part by a US Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center grant. Also co-sponsored by the Global Studies Institute, the Asian Studies Center, and the Office of International Initiatives at Georgia State University. In collaboration with the Consul General of Turkey in Miami and the Ahiska Turkish American Council.