Posted on 02/25/2006 7:10:24 PM PST by Imnotalib
KRASNODAR, Russia, July 24, (IslamOnline.net) - The United States has agreed to grant citizenship to 7,000 Ahiska Muslims who will be settled in Pennsylvania, reported a Russian newspaper on Friday, July 23.
The first 11-strong batch of the Ahiska Muslims, living in the Russian province of Krasnodar, left for Geneva on Thursday, July 22, before flying to Philadelphia, reported Novie Izvestia.
It added that the Muslims would be housed near the grand mosque in Philadelphia.
The paper recalled that Krasnodar governor Alexander Tkachev was notified of the American decision on February 15.
Izvestia said the Russian government does not treat Ahiska Muslims as citizens and has not therefore given them passports or IDs.
An official in Krasnodar administration had told Interfax on Tuesday, July 20, that of the 11,999 Ahiska Muslims living in the region, 4,943 have received Russian citizenship and 744 have embarked on Russian naturalization procedures.
He added that more than 5,000 others have expressed a desire to emigrate to the United States.
Earlier, Chingiz Neiman-zade, chairman of Vatan, a Meskheti Turks association based in Georgia, said the United States had offered to accept the Ahiska Muslims living in Krasnodar as immigrants.
"On February 16, the International Migration Organization began an information program in Krasnodar to explain the terms for the resettlement of the Ahiska Muslims in the U.S.," he told Chicago Tribune on Thursday, July 22.
"The immigrants will be provided with housing and furniture, they will be helped to learn the English language and to complete formalities needed for residence in the US, which is especially important, and have been promised life-long welfare allowances for pensioners and the disabled."
Happiness
Ahiska Muslims were happy with the American offer.
"This decision marks a great change in our life", said Tepeshon Swanidze, leader of the Ahiska Muslim community in Russia.
"We thank the US administration for its humanitarian decision", he added.
Ahiska Muslims , originally hailing from Anatolia, were exiled from their homeland after Russia seized the region of Ahiska following its 1828-1829 war with the Ottoman Empire.
Many Ahiska Muslims were forced to seek refugee in Erzurum in eastern Turkey after being persecuted by the Russian Cesar for supporting the Ottoman Empire.
Facing a similar fate under the notorious Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Ahiska Muslims fled to Uzbekistan in 1944.
One year later, they went to Azerbaijan where they currently reside.
Turkish and Azeri parliamentarians had recently appealed for an international intervention to pressure the Georgian government into allowing the return of Ahiska Muslims.
Ahiska became part of Georgia in 1918.
Statistics show that among foreign Muslims Democrats^, a large percentage believe crazy things like the CIA and the Jews were responsible for 9-11. Many of them, if not a majoriy, believe that either we were Karl Rove was^ responsible for the tsunami that hit Indonesia, or Allah did it Bush ordered the use of secret weapons^ to punish the area (despite the fact that far more Muslims were killed than Christians).
Ah, that would be Queen of Cheap Shots, sweetie.
Look, I don't like coming down on people, but what do you expect others to do, just sit there and take this? I don't care if this did happen seven months ago, it did happen under this administration and it's simply unacceptable.
How would you like it if seven to ten thousand people from a foreign nation moved into your neighborhood within the period of one or two years?
Would it please you if they all landed in your neighborhood and not one single soul was left that spoke English in a four mile square with you right in the middle of it?
That's essentially what is going to happen to other citizens, because these folks will land in one specific area. The democraphics of that neighborhood will be forever changed.
This isn't about xenophobia. It's simply about survival. The people that lived in that neighborhood before the invastion, did have a right to their culture, language and way of life. Don't you think they did?
Would it have to be racism just because they didn't want be be swamped by 7-10 thousand foreign nationals?
"I have enough faith in this administrations determination to fight the war on terror that if they decided to bring in people, there is no way there would be any connections with terror."
I wish I shared your optimism about there not being any connections with terror. There is no way the US can verify that the people being allowed in are not connected to any terrorist groups. Who are they going to ask? The Russians? They want rid of them. Russia is a country where 1 out of every 7 people is a Muslim. Why do they want to get rid of these people so badly?? Plus, how hard would it be to fake being one of these people? Fake documents are very easy to come by in Russia - especially if you have someone else paying the bribes for you....
Having said that, I'm sure that the majority of them are probably not a threat. But why are we bringing in pensioners and others who will live off of the state? Plus, there are plenty of others from that region who have just as compelling reasons to immigrate to the US who cannot because this number (7000) counts against the immigration quota.
My question is - why isn't Georgia accepting them? Most of them appear to have surnames common for that area and would be able to assimilate.
Tain't funny!
Very good catch. As if there isn't enough hysteria now.
Everyone's going off half cocked on something that hasn't been confirmed. Since when does FreeRepublic believe Islam Online as a credible source?
Please read the data at the links I provided starting at the Washington Post link. Thank you.
This will take you directly to the Washington Post site, if that's more valid IYO.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111702014.html
Most of the educated class in the middle east speak and write fluent english. Particularly doctors, dentists, scientists, educators etc. because most of the journals, manuals, textbooks are written in english. When the blogs first started, the english was VERY rough. You could barely understand what they were saying. Over the past couple of years it has become so good their writting is better than most American journalists.
The Cossacks! You're worried about the Cossacks?
Maybe they'll just come over on the "guest" worker program?
According to that that Washington post article..We have confirmation...Posting an Excerpt(Allowed)
"In the past year, just more than 5,000 Meskhetian Turks have resettled in the United States as refugees, and 4,400 have approval to immigrate, according to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Another 7,000 have filed applications that U.S. officials are reviewing."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111702014.html
More like "Malice in Blunderland".
And this entitles them to take OUR money?? Maybe they should earn their OWN money!! What ever happened to responsibility being placed on a sponsor who guaranteed the immmigrant wouldn't be a drain on the U.S?
If you'll read the information, you'll find that this is the same area. The people are simply being referred to in different terms.
The sad thing about people like you, is that you demand proof of something, but when people provide it you simply dismiss it and morph the arguement to another point.
Intruducing a massive amount of immigrants to one specific area is very destructive to the local culture. The Washington Post story talks about 4,000 already transferred, another 4,000 already approved for transfer and another 7,000 who have applied on top of that.
We're talking about 15,000 foreign nationals, that will be relocated to one specific area. Those people will obtain all sorts of government supports that you and I will wind up paying for.
You think this is okay?
Thanks for the note. I appreciate it.
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