[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 172 (Thursday, December 5, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN SUPPORT OF PRIORITY-TWO
           (P-2) REFUGEE IMMIGRATION STATUS FOR AHISKA TURKS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 5, 2013

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 
Ahiska (Meskhetian) Turkish community, a distinct minority group that 
has faced statelessness, discrimination, and violent attacks in the 
former Soviet Union for nearly 70 years. Given recent reports of active 
and severe persecution against Ahiska Turks in southern Russia at every 
socio-economic and political level because of their ethnicity and 
religion, I urge the U.S. Department of State to re-establish Ahiska 
Turks as a group of ``special humanitarian concern'' for Priority-Two 
(P-2) processing for refugee status.
  The Ahiska Turks, who were uprooted and resettled from their 
ancestral lands in the Soviet Republic of Georgia by Stalin in 1944, 
have been perennial refugees since then, and unable to return to their 
homes. Much of the refugee community is now centered in the Krasnodar 
region of southern Russia, led by Governor Alexander Tkachev. The 
Ahiska Turk community numbers less than 19,000 in the Krasnodar region, 
with thousands more in the nearby Rostov region and Kabardino-Balkaria, 
for a total of 80,000 in all of Russia.
  Between 2004 and 2007, roughly 12,000 Ahiska Turks came to the United 
States under a special refugee status known as P-2, settling all over 
the United States, including in Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, 
Idaho, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and many other states. This 
resilient community has been able to fully integrate into American 
society, and has proven itself to be a great asset in their new home 
states by becoming entrepreneurs and creating opportunities for others.
  Unfortunately, Ahiska Turks lost their P-2 status when it expired in 
2007. For those who remain stateless in southern Russia, their 
struggles continue. The discrimination and ethnic persecution of the 
Ahiska Turks by the Russian authorities, as well as vigilante and 
Cossack paramilitary forces, has been documented by the U.S. State 
Department, the Russian human rights organization ``Memorial,'' and the 
media, most recently The New York Times.
  Furthermore, an October 2013 report by the European Commission 
Against Racism and Intolerance, which dedicates a section to Ahiska 
Turks, indicated that the situation in southern Russia remains ``very 
bad'' for ethnic minorities. The report also goes on to explain that 
human rights organizations' efforts to monitor and report on the 
situation have been met with ``hostility by the authorities, including 
criminal investigations and prosecutions.''
  Mr. Speaker, issues of human rights and the ethnic persecution of 
Ahiska Turks in southern Russia remain serious concerns. Although the 
Ahiska Turkish diaspora, particularly in the United States, and various 
organizations have long advocated for renewed resettlement assistance, 
the international community remains largely unresponsive. Therefore, I 
believe that it is long past time that the State Department re-
institute P-2 status for Ahiska Turks and resume the implementation of 
a successful program that has not only improved the lives of refugees, 
but also enriched the communities they joined.

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