[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 25, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E238-E239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING THE AHISKA TURKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEVE CHABOT

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2014

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, as a Member of Congress from Ohio, I am 
proud of my state's diversity and the many cultures that make it such a 
great place to live.
  One of the more active ethnic groups in Ohio is the Ahiska Turks, who 
are represented by the Ahiska Turkish American Community Center 
(ATACC). When the United States offered P-2 refugee status to this 
distinct minority group in Russia, to those who faced religious and 
ethnic persecution by the Russians, roughly 12,000 Ahiska Turks came to 
our country, and settled in Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, Idaho, 
Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
  Those who created new lives in Ohio learned English, established 
small businesses, educated their children, and revitalized 
neighborhoods. They invested over $30 million just in north Dayton 
alone, where dilapidated houses were transformed into an oasis of 
middle class dwellings. For example, the Dayton Community Center was a 
dying building which they bought and renovated. It now not only houses 
Ahiska Turkish American Community Center events, but it is also a 
flourishing neighborhood preschool.
  Ahiska Turks are living the American dream not only in my state, but 
also around the country. In their efforts to open shops, and establish 
businesses in transportation and construction, for example, they have 
successfully accomplished what we often talk about here in Congress--
they have created jobs.
  But while these fortunate Ahiska Turks now live better and more 
prosperous lives here in the U.S., the lives of the Ahiska Turks in 
Russia are very different. Their children are segregated in schools and 
told they can never

[[Page E239]]

``catch up'' or integrate with their Russian counterparts. They 
continue to face widespread persecution and live under discriminatory 
laws. However, if these same people thrive once they come to the United 
States, and their children excel in school, then there is little doubt 
that the environment of hostility and discrimination in which they live 
in Russia is what is keeping them from meeting their real potential in 
that country.
  As a result, I call on the State Department to restart the P-2 
program so that those Ahiska Turks who continue to face persecution in 
Russia can come to the United States and rejoin their families. Ohio 
has benefited from their hard work, dedication, and family values. This 
program was a blessing for these wonderful people, and it was a good 
deal for the United States.

                          ____________________