DEBATE OVER REPATRIATION OF MESKHETIANS RENEWS
By Nino Mumladze

The Messenger, Georgia
June 15 2007

After 62 years of forced exile, the Georgian government is expressing
readiness to embrace its former citizens, however, the ruling party
proposed legislation on the Meskhetians’ (more commonly referred
to as Meskhetian Turks) repatriation has sparked heated debates
in parliament.

The draft law lays out procedures for "a decent and voluntary" return
of the deported Muslim Meskhetians and their families starting in
2008. The process should be complete by 2011.

In 1944, Stalin deported around 20 000 Meskhetian families residing
in the Samtskhe-Javakheti province (southern Georgia) to Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The deported Meskhetians, who experienced
severe oppression in their new destinations, scattered across the
territories of the former Soviet Union. Some 700 families returned to
Georgia after the Soviet collapse, but at rough calculations, there
are some 400 000 Meskhetian Turks still in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine.

According to the draft, those who wish to return will be given
one year, from January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2009, to apply for
repatriation in the nearest Georgian consulates or the Georgian
Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation. After reviewing the application
and "old Soviet papers" proving deportation, a person will be granted
the right to seek Georgian citizenship in a simplified way and allowed
into the country.

"The one year term after the adoption of this law, is designed for
us to see how many people are actually willing to return, so that we
are able to plan – rationally and based on our national interests –
the pace of the whole process," said influential ruling party MP
Giga Bokeria.

However, the draft doesn’t designate specific eligibility criteria and
includes the right for the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs
to be involved in vetoing any applicants based on the undetermined
criteria.

The draft also doesn’t specify where the Meskhetians will be
located when they return. Some government officials have argued
in the past that many of the villages in which they used to live
in Samtskhe-Javakheti are already occupied and they would need to
relocate the Meskhetians throughout Georgia. Others have said there
is plenty of room in the province but they don’t want to increase
tension in the area predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians.

The only thing that is clear in the draft is that the Georgian
authorities are not obliged to provide any financial support to
the returnees.

As part of Georgia’s acceptance into the Council of Europe in 1999,
they committed to a 12-year plan to repatriate the Meskhetians,
including have a law in place by 2001. To date, they have not lived
up to this commitment. But now NATO is also requiring some action
which has provided new will to tackle the issue.

"Not only Council of Europe commitments, but also Georgia’s NATO bid
has become a reason to accelerate the process," MP and co-author of
the draft, Pavle Kublashvili commented to Civil Georgia on June 13.

At the same time Kublashvili stated that no international or foreign
state organization is planning to provide financial support.

In the past, the government claimed that Georgia was not ready to
accept new returnees with over 200 000 IDPs from Abkhazia and South
Ossetia already in the country. Other government officials expressed
concern about Georgia’s territorial integrity over the issue.

Part of the Conservative Party’s criticism carried a nationalist
flavor saying their return will pose a "separatist threat".

Conservative Party MP Kakha Kukava stated at a June 13 press conference
the bill is "a threat to Georgia’s territorial integrity".

"We [Conservative Party] think this draft law doesn’t serve Georgia’s
national interests, thus it is a treasonous bill. And this is
treacherous because the bill doesn’t envisage possible complications if
say 100 000 repatriates want Georgian citizenship," Conservative Party
MP Zviad Dzidziguri stated on Imedi’s evening talk show On Air June 14.

Bokeria tried to assuage fears explaining that Georgia is not taking
and "cannot possibly take" on any responsibility for the Meskhetians’
settlement altogether and Georgia "as a sovereign country is free to
interpret its obligations".

Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze commented on the bill from
France. "The version of the bill I saw is acceptable as a starting
point. I want to ask the opposition and society to discuss the draft
without any strong emotions and unhealthy political disputes. If
they read it carefully, they will find it doesn’t bear any threat to
Georgia," Burjanadze stated on June 14.

Former state minister for conflict resolution Goga Khaindrava served on
the government committee working on the issue for years and co-authored
another version of a repatriation law drafted with the involvement of
international organizations. He is critical of the current proposal
for many reasons including that it does not provide enough details,
however he doesn’t question the right of the Meskhetians to return,
saying – laying aside the commitment to the international community,
first and foremost it’s Georgia’s moral obligation to do so. "This
is a humanitarian, legal and Biblical issue for Georgia and only
afterwards is it a political issue.

Really, it’s the Georgian population, not the politicians, who should
decide the issue," Khaindrava stated On Air.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress