[Bilimsel Haber] PUBL.- Ethnic Discrimination & U.S. Refugee Resettlement: Meskhetian Turks

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

PUBL.- Ethnic Discrimination & U.S. Refugee Resettlement: Meskhetian Turks

Posted by: Steve Swerdlow <steveswerdlow at gmail.com>

The following article was recently published in the December 2006
issue of the California Law Review (Vol. 94 CALIF. L. REV. No. 6),
available for order through http://www.boalt.org/clr.  Also soon to be
available on www.lexisnexis.com and www.westlaw.com or by contacting
steveswerdlow at gmail.com

Understanding Post-Soviet Ethnic Discrimination and the Effective Use
of U.S. Refugee Resettlement: The Case of the Meskhetian Turks

Abstract - Executive Summary
Following a mass deportation from Georgia, interethnic pogroms in
Uzbekistan, and ethnic cleansing in Southern Russia, the resettlement
of the Meskhetian Turks to the United States which began in 2004,
represents the successful culmination of a struggle with a Soviet
legacy of exile that denied them human rights, ethnic identity, and
ancestral homeland for over six decades.  The choice of this
transnational group for resettlement to the United States also
reflects the renewal and re-shaping of the long-functioning and often
under-utilized, U.S. refugee admissions program in the wake of its
near shutdown after September 11, 2001.   At the intersection of human
rights law, refugee policy, and area studies, this article focuses on
the odyssey of the Meskhetian Turks to understand both the current
state of minority rights in post-Soviet space and the potentials of
U.S. refugee resettlement as a tool for their protection.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Russia, Georgia, and the United
States between 2000 and 2005, and over 100 interviews conducted by the
author in the Meskhetian community, the article endorses the
proposition that an understanding of the case of the Meskhetian Turks
provides valuable insights for protecting minority rights in
post-Soviet space and effectively using the U.S. refugee admissions
program.   As an organizing principle, this study examines the human
rights dilemma and Meskhetian Turk resettlement program through the
lens of the three classic "durable solutions" available to
refugees-integration, repatriation, and third-country resettlement
-developed y the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Viewing the experience of the Meskhetian Turks against the search for
these durable solutions allows for a structured evaluation of the
decision to resettle them in the United States and provides a
framework for determining the eligibility of future refugee groups. In
a post-9/11 context, the case of the Meskhetian Turks serves as a
strong illustration that the United States should expeditiously use
the remedy of resettlement for those groups at the greatest risk of
harm.  Specifically, the dire circumstances for ethnic minorities in
post-Soviet space and the successful experience of newly resettled
Meskhetian Turks in the United States should be cause to extend
refugee eligibility to those ethnic groups similarly situated in the region.

Part I introduces the transnational identity of the Meskhetian Turks,
an ethnic group virtually non-existent in America before 2004. Turning
to a discussion of the forced statelessness endured by the Meskhetian
Turks in Russia's Krasnodar region, Part II discusses the failure of
integration as a durable solution. Part III demonstrates the
shortfalls of relying on the post-Soviet republic of Georgia to
facilitate repatriation of the Meskhetian Turks to their homeland,
which lies in the southern region of the country. The issue of
Meskhetian Turks' right of voluntary return illustrates how Georgia's
unwillingness to comply with its international obligations further
intensifies the dire situation of the Meskhetian Turks in Krasnodar.

Part IV endorses the solution of third-country resettlement and
explores the core factors that led to the opening of a special refugee
program for Meskhetian Turks in 2004, including the effort to
revitalize U.S. refugee admissions in a post September 11th world.
Based on the author's conversations with newly resettled Meskhetian
Turks in the United States during 2004-2005, Part IV argues that
resettlement to the United States is the most viable durable solution
for this long-suffering population and a successful example of the
U.S. refugee program.  However, unless the U.S. government and
international community combine the refugee program with a robust
human rights policy aimed at the Krasnodar region, resettlement will
be at best an incomplete response for dealing with the legacy of
xenophobia at the heart of the Meskhetian Turk crisis.  In the short
run, to avoid creating a damaging precedent, the United States must
insist that Russia live up to its human rights obligations by granting
citizenship to stateless persons and cracking down on Cossacks.  In
the long run, it must support the efforts of local NGOs to fight
racism and xenophobia with education, human rights monitoring, and
legal support.




Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian
Studies