Azerbaijan, Ganja, 1 August / corr. Trend V.Mammadov / Opinion poll is being conducted among Ahiska Turks to know their opinion about repatriation, Ibrahim Burkhanov, the chairman of the Veten (Motherland) Ahiska Turks Society, said at a meeting dedicated to the Ahiska Turks' deportation day in Ganja. Heads of the Ahiska Turks' organizations, who live in the western region, participated in this meeting.
Burkhanov stated that when Georgia joined the EU in 1999, the issue of repatriation of Ahiska Turks was discussed. At that time nobody wanted to repatriate.
The chairman of the society said that 46 families had settled in their motherland. The society distributed blanks among Ahiska Turks, living in the western region, to know whether they want to repatriate or not.
"Results of the survey will be publicized by the end of 2008," Burkhanov said.
A total of 106,000 of them came to Azerbaijan. At present 70,000 Ahiska Turks live in Azerbaijan and 17,000 of them settled in the western region.
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