Turkey sends medical aid for Ahiska Turks in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan on Monday received the medical supplies Turkey sent to help Ahiska Turks in their fight against coronavirus.

Medical supplies sent by Turkey's Foreign Ministry arrived in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

The aid campaign was carried out in coordination with the World Union of Ahiska Turks (DATUB), headquartered in the Turkish metropolitan city of Istanbul.

Yekta Kamil Noyan, Turkey's acting charge d'affaires in Bishkek, handed over the aid, which consisted of 20,000 surgical masks, 1,200 N95 face masks, 1,500 protective overalls, seven thermometers, a ventilator, 115 face shields and medicine boxes, to the Ahiska Turks' Association in Kyrgyzstan to be distributed among the people.

Atamsha Dursunov, head of the Association of Ahiska Turks, said medical supplies sent by Turkey are very important in the fight against COVID-19.

He also thanked the Turkish administration, the Foreign Ministry and DATUB.

In 1944, over 92,000 Ahiska Turks, also known as Meskhetian Turks, were expelled from Georgia's Meskheti regionby Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, according to the World Ahiska Turks Association.

During nearly 40-day deportation from homeland to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, around 13,000 Ahiska Turks lost their lives due to hunger, cold weather, and diseases.

Up to 500,000 Ahiska Turks scattered across nine countries, including Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the US, and the Central Asian republics.