Story of a people seeking repatriation after decades of exhile

In mid-November 1944, around 100,000 of Georgian Muslims from the southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti were deported to Central Asia. The vast majority of them were Meskhetians (or Meskhetian Turks). In the course of the WWII, they were perceived by the Soviet government to be Turkey’s potential allies.

Within a few days, people were collected and moved to Central Asia in cargo trains. Many of them died during the weeks-long trip. They were settled in Central Asian states in the middle of winter. They were not permitted to go outside of villages they were assigned to. In 1956, a few years after Stalin’s death, they were granted the right to settle anywhere in the Soviet Union, except for Georgia. More than 60 years after the deportation, a few families managed to return to their ancestors’ land.

The series, taken in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan, describes Meskhetian communities, traditions, sense of self-identity and very long journey home.