Ahiska Turks in Philadelphia

• Ekleyen Mikail İbrahimoğlu 27 Temmuz 2012 - Filed in Ahıska Türkleri - #Ahiska Turks  #identity  #integration  #Philadelphia  #Turkish  - 15.912 izlenme
  
  

  International Journal of Social and Human Sciences 6 2012

  Ahiska Turks in Philadelphia: Keeping Cultural Identity and Religion in a Multicultural Environment

   Kenan Cetinkaya, Semanur Kodan

  Kenan Cetinkaya is a PhD candidate at the Department of Religion,
  Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA (e-mail: kenan@temple.edu).
  Semanur Kodan is a MA student at the Department of Psychological
  Counseling and Guidance at Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey (e-mail:
  semanurkodan@hotmail.com)

  
  

  Ahiska Turks in the Philadelphia area maintain a very complex, cultural heritage which they have carried with them for centuries from Georgia to Uzbekistan then Russia and lastly to the USA. While facing very severe conditions in the last half of the last century, their passion for their language, religion and tradition allowed them to keep their cultural identity. In the paper, the Ahiska Turks’ sorrowful story is reviewed and their struggle with keeping their identity in a multicultural environment of the USA is examined in the context of the Philadelphia area.

  I. INTRODUCTION

  AHISKA Turks or Meskhetian Turks generally are Sunni Muslims, and their original homeland is Meskhetia in the Republic of Georgia. Being under the Ottoman Empire for centuries and later under Soviet Russia, Ahiska Turks have a mix of cultures and traditions. In 1944 under the Stalin regime, Ahiska Turks were forcibly deported from their homeland and settled in modern day Uzbekistan. After facing a pogrom in Uzbekistan, many fled back to parts of Russia during the collapse of the Soviet regime. In 2004 many Ahiska Turks under a very severe situation were granted refugee status under the US refugee program and by the end of 2007 around 17000 settled in 66 towns of 32 states in the US. Ahiska Turks in Philadelphia constitute a big part of the refugee population with a population of around 400-450 people (about 85 families). Many of them live in the Northeast area of Philadelphia [7].In spite of such a complex history, they are trying to create a new homeland in the US. However, the capitalism, liberty, and prosperity they find in the USA pushes them to challenge their traditional, religious and cultural identity. In the research we focused on the issue of preserving cultures and religious identity in a multicultural society. The method of education of their culture and religion which they offer for their children and teenagers is another part of our focus. These questions are being asked: In contrast to the communist regime of Soviet Russia, what are the challenges of the capitalist system in terms of keeping their religious identity and culture? Do they consider themselves as
  Diaspora? How do/can they integrate/assimilate into the US society? Do they want to fully assimilate into the society or do they have any plans to go back to their homeland? What is the role of religion in their relationship with others and preserving their culture and identity? In the paper, we start with historical challenges Ahisk Turks have faced. In the second part we go deeper into how Ahiska Turks preserved their identity throughout exile and their time 

  in the USA by analyzing basic characters of their cultures, family structure and religious observances.

  II. HISTORY
  A. Ottoman Period (1578-1825)
  Even though the history of Ahiskan Turks in the area of
  Georgia is not so clear in the research made before and there
  are so many debates, two important arguments appear strong:
  Ahiskan were Turkish families/clans who were brought to
  Georgia by the Ottoman Empire mainly because of its Turkish
  policy. According to this policy, the Ottomans, instead of
  forcing people of the newly conquered area to leave or
  convert, settled Turkish Muslim clans in this new area in order
  to make it a Turkish land and let people of different faiths
  integrate and harmonize. According to this view around 1578
  CE Ottoman Turks settled the area called Ahiska/Meskhetia
  and after 250 years it became a part of Anatolian Turkish
  settlements [9], [12].
  According to a second argument Ahiska Turks are Muslim
  converts of Georgians. This second argument is strong in
  terms of the use of the term Meskhetian for the people of
  Ahiska. However, there is a lack of enough materials to
  confirm this suggestion or historical documents to oppose it
  [such as during the Ottoman time, the people never were
  called Gurcuogullari/ sons of Georgians, but always were
  called Ahiskan Turks]. Coşkun and Sargin, discuss the
  problem of the concepts of Ahiska and Meskhetian very
  detailed in their MA theses [6], [13].
  Ottoman rule ended after the Ottoman-Russian wars in 1828
  and the region became a part of Russia. And in March 16,
  1921, with the Treaty of Moscow, Turkey gave the region
  totally to Russian control [9], [12], [14]. Especially because
  the Ahiska Turks struggled during the First World War with
  the Ottomans against the Russians, the Russians saw Ahiskans
  as a potential revolt community throughout the Soviet regime
  and post- Russian periods as well [2].
  The harsh attitude of Soviet policy toward the Ahiskan was
  so clear especially by denying their Turkish identity and by
  considering them Georgian. From 1926-35 many Ahiskan
  Turks were called Turks. However, the policy shifted after
  1935 when they were called Azeri and their passports stated that they were Azeri. From 1938 until Second World War
  they were called Georgians. [12]
  The year 1944 was the turning point in the history of the
  Ahiskans and the darkest year of their story. That is when
  Stalin pushed them to leave their homeland in present day
  Georgia because of his fear of a dividing Soviet Union [12],
  [4]. Ahiska Turks comprised a big part of the population of the
  region and they exhibited a very high percentage of Muslim
  background. Their population according to the census was
  137,921 [14].

  B.Russian Period and Exile (1825-1944)

  The assimilation policy of Russia toward the Ahiskan
  continued after the 1930s including being forced to change last
  names from Ahiskans to some Georgian last names. We can
  find some last names of Ahiskans, which are not Turkish,
  today because of this pressure. In late 1944 when Lavrenti
  Beria, Stalin’s trusted person, passed the resolution labeling
  minorities similar to Ahiskans as “untrustworthy populations”
  and therefore stating that they must be deported from their
  homeland in order to break the linkage and assimilate them,
  the worst days of the Ahiskan started. More than 100,000 –
  115,000 [14] people were forced to depart from the region in
  1944 and many of them lost their lives during this deportation.
  According to some research there were around 15-20 % of the
  whole population (around 20,000 people) forced to death
  during the expulsion [12] and in the first 18 month of the exile
  around 30,000 of them died because of the cold and harsh
  conditions [14].
  Therefore, November 15 became a commemoration of the
  death and suffering for the Ahiskan people. The deported
  people were spread to 18 districts and 264 regions [5] all over
  Soviet Russia especially to central Asian regions such as
  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The people who
  settled in different areas were faced with a “special settlement
  regimes” until 1956 [12], [4]. According to this regulation
  they had to register with state police and they could not travel
  anywhere outside of the settlement without permission from
  the local government. Because they were deprived of so many
  civic and political rights they started working as agricultural
  laborers. In 1956, after Stalin’s death, Nikita Khrushchev
  lifted many restrictions applied to minorities and let them
  become more free in their life in the soviet regime. While
  many other minorities in exile were affirmed to go back to
  their homeland, Ahiska Turks did not get this chance and
  stayed in exile [9]. One of the reasons for that could be the
  geopolitical importance of the region during the Cold War era,
  and after the Cold-War [12]. Because of the impossibility of
  returning their homeland, Ahiska Turks continued to live in
  the different parts of Central Asia. Our attention shifts to
  Uzbekistan in/after 1989 because of the high pressure of
  nationalism among Uzbeks and their rejection of Ahiskan in
  their homeland.
  C.Uzbekistan Period Second Exile (1944-1989)
  Even though the Ahiskan in the different regions of Russia
  were separated from each other, nevertheless they continued to establish some organizations (The "Vatan Society" was the
  only Ahiskan organization during the Soviet regime and the
  "Hsna Society" was founded later for struggling to return to
  Georgia) especially after the sanctions toward them were lifted
  by the regime [11]. Some progress was achieved and between
  the years of 1981-1988 around 1300 people returned to
  Georgia. However, because of the high level of nationalism in
  Georgia and the settlement process, half of them were forced
  to go back into exile [9].Uzbekistan had a large number of
  Ahiska Turks settlements by June 1989. However, because of
  the rise of nationalism in Uzbekistan and lack of government
  support, a pogrom broke out and around 100 Ahiskan died in a
  region named Fergana Valley [7]. This is called by media and
  international level as “Fergana events” or “Fergana Pogrom”
  which started in June 3 1989 [4]. In the aftermath of this
  pogrom, the government asked some 17,000 (according to
  some other sources about 12,000-30,000) Ahiskan to move
  from there and later around 70,000 more to move to different
  parts of Russia. Many of them went to Azerbaijan while others
  moved to Ukraine and Kazakhstan [9], [4]. Therefore, in their
  first half century of the exile, the Uzbekistani Ahiskan Turks
  faced with second exile.

  D.Returning Russia (1989-2004)

  The population of Ahiska Turks in Russia was not so small
  as to be easily ignored. According to 1989 census there were
  around 207,502 Turks living there. Since many of the
  Ahiskans were considered Azerbaijani we can argue their
  numbers could be more than 400,000 [1]. One of the
  settlements of Ahiskan after the Uzbekistan pogrom was
  Krasnodar. However, Krasnodar was not a convenient place
  for the Ahiska Turks since the local authorities of Krasnodar
  rejected the recognition of Ahiska Turks who settle there.
  Aydıngün explains their situation as “Regional politicians
  used xenophobia against non-Slavic people to keep the
  Meskhetian Turks, along with some other smaller ethnic
  minorities, a perpetually stateless people” [12]. Without
  recognition they could not even obtain property, work legally
  or join higher education. In addition to this hard situation the
  authorities forced the Ahiskans to re-register as guests in the
  region every 45 days. Moreover, the local authorities passed
  some regulations in order to maintain Ahiska Turks as
  unwanted people by not letting them obtain propiska
  (residence permit and migration recording tool in the Soviet
  Union) in the beginnings of 1992. The harsh conditions
  reached its peak in 2002 when authorities prevented Ahiska
  Turks from leasing and cultivating the land [4]. Around
  11,000 Ahiskans in the Krasnodar region had not been
  allowed citizenship by 2002. Local authorities asked them to
  leave on 27 th of March 2002 for the third exile in fifty years
  [10]. Around 40 Ahiskans staged a 10-day hunger strike to
  draw the attention of international and governmental powers
  [12].Several international organizations such as the Council of
  Europe and the International Organization for Migration, tried
  to solve the problem the Ahiskans faced in the region [12]. In
  terms of Georgia, the process was so slow that even by the end
  of 2008 no satisfactory development happened.

  Beginning in 2004 until 2007 the US government decided
  to let around 17,000 Ahiskans into 66 towns of 32 states in the
  US. The Ahiska Turks in Philadelphia constitutes a big part of
  the refugee population with a population of 400-450 people
  (around 85 families).
  Today, around 350 - 400,000 Ahiska Turks live in nine
  different countries throughout the world: Azerbaijan, Georgia,
  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Turkey,
  Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and the United States region [12], [11].
  
  III. CULTURE – IDENTITY

  In this part it will be helpful to analyze basic characteristics
  of the Ahiskan culture in terms of creating their identity.
  It is clear that before their deportation, the people in the
  region of Meskhetia did not know much about ethnic
  differences or how to feel about it [2]. When they were forced
  to be assimilated away from their homeland, a religious,
  cultural consciousness appeared and formed in the individuals
  as well as in the community of the Ahiskan people.
  The First World War and the Second World War had a
  tremendous effect on the Ahiska Turk’s self-consciousness as
  Turks and on keeping their national identity as part of a
  Turkish society with myths and memories which pass from
  generation to generation [2], [1]. Rejection of Ahiska people
  by the Soviet regime and excluding them from the society
  helped Ahiska Turks to strengthen their feeling of
  Turkishness. Therefore, it can be said that ethnic identity of
  Ahiska Turks was shaped during the 1944 exile period [2].
  According to field work made in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan,
  Ahiska Turks emphasized their Turkishness and saw
  themselves as part of the Ottoman Empire. Ahiskan people did
  not accept or defined themselves as Georgians, or sons of
  Georgians in any level [16]. Their ethnic solidarity reduced
  their relationship with other ethnic groups to a minimum and
  thus by becoming a close community this allowed them to
  maintain their identity intact even though they were influenced
  by the society in a general manner [2]. Especially the practices
  of not marrying outside their ethnic group contributed to them
  keeping their identity during the exile. Also, their settlements
  in the different regions were very close to each other
  especially the rural and suburban settlements and this helped
  them to keep their communal consciousness in the regions
  where they lived. [12]
  After the long period of three or four exiles the gap between
  the generations in one family became very clear since the
  father could have been born in Georgia, a son in Uzbekistan
  and grandsons in the Ukraine or the USA [16]. Now we can
  look at basic segments of their cultural identity.
  In terms of their religious tradition, it seems that Ahiska
  Turks, similar to Bosnian Muslims, are not strictly observant
  Muslims, however they practice circumcision, refrain from
  pork, fast during the month of Ramadan and celebrate the
  Muslim holidays of Ramadan Bayramı (Eid al-Fitr) and
  Kurban Bayramı (Eid al- adha). And after dinner prayer (fast
  breaking during the Ramadan) they always remember the
  deceased relatives of the one who hosts the people in his/her
  house. Interestingly Ahiska Turks adopted some of the secular festivals of the Soviet Union such as New Year’s Eve and
  New Year’s Day on December 31 and January 1. Despite
  these influences their core values did not become those of the
  Soviet Russia. However, it is very clear that they accepted
  some of them in the course of history. [12]In terms of family
  structure of Ahiska Turks it can be stated that the lineage is an
  important tool for transferring historical and family ties to the
  next generation since there was no institutional structure in the
  community during their exile. So oral transferring of history
  depends on the lineage stories and myths of their homeland.
  Many Ahiskans can go back four or five generations when
  they are asked to mention their names and places they lived
  [12]. Nearly all Ahiska Turks know the name of the village in
  which their grandparents lived. Traditionally defining statues
  of interfamily relations also should bring some lights on
  Ahiska Turks’ self-identification. Kinship plays a very
  important role in their lives to increase respect and to keep the
  family ties very strong by connecting families as well as the
  groups. Therefore, there are many different names that have
  been produced for defining different relationship between the
  members of the family and interfamily.
  They have very specific names for instance for their
  relatives such as:
  æmi – father’s brother
  Aɰa æmi – father’s brother
  Bibi – father’s sister
  Hala – mother’s sister
  Paʃa hanɯm – father’s brother’s wife
  Paʃa abla – brother’s wife’s sister
  dʒidʒi – uncle’s wife
  ækæ – older brother
  Dada – older brother [16].
  IV. PRESERVING IDENTITY
  After mentioning basic characteristics of Ahiska Turks
  culture in general, now we can reanalyze them in order to
  understand their response to multicultural environments of the
  USA. Even though they were living in a very multicultural
  environment before and during the exile, it is very clear that
  the hardships and persecutions were very effective on shaping
  their cultural characteristics and their response to pressure.
  However, their situation in the USA is very vivid in terms of
  being free and having intellectual, cultural and religious
  confrontation with non-Ahiskans. These new challenges -and
  the fear of failing to transmit their cultural identity to the new
  generation- pushed Ahiska Turks to embrace their cultures
  much more than during the exile. We will analyze their
  cultures in terms of preserving their identity in a reaction to
  the multicultural environment. Before doing this it will be
  helpful to point out the need for preserving culture and
  identity in a multicultural society.
  A. The Need for Maintaining Culture and Identity in a
  Multicultural Environment
  Societies keep and develop their cultural structures in
  constant interactions; however, it is very difficult for minority groups to maintain their cultural values in multicultural
  environments where the intense interaction of values is
  dominate. Individuals who live in multicultural societies will
  either lose their cultural value, maintain their culture by
  isolating themselves (potentially causing the ultimate loss of
  their culture anyway) or they will accept a modified set of
  experiences through cultural exchange with other groups.
  Every individual feels a belonging to family, society and
  culture, and therefore struggles for maintain his or her own
  culture by assimilating the language, religion, family structure
  and feeling of society. Culture is the expression of self in
  every aspect of life since it explains life, past experiences and
  productions [19]. One who does not know himself/herself has
  to face and accept the identity offered by others and is always
  interested in movements around him/her [21].
  Creating the feeling of belonging is a very significant
  concept for individuals. The process of creation of identity
  starts from childhood and continues in adulthood. In the
  childhood phase two facts are important in terms of accepting
  or denying social and historical ties [17]. The individual who
  could give reasonable answers to the questions such as “Who
  am I?”, “What will happen to me?” or “What do I believe?”
  will constitute a positive identity [18]. In psychology the
  concept of identity which is explained with the concept of
  personality is shaped by dialogue with others and feedback
  toward their attitudes. The concept of identity is a concept
  whose center is the culture and it is constituted by dialogue
  with family and society [19].
  The individual, who is always in dialogue with society since
  birth, feels the desire of belonging by identity that is obtained
  through a connection with close family and society. Maslow
  summarizes peoples’ need in five categories: (a) physical
  needs (b) security needs (c) needs of belonging (c) need of
  respect (e) need of self-actualizing. The individual who has
  met their needs on a lower level would look for good
  relationships and be a better member of a family. The ones
  who then met their needs on an upper level would mostly
  show more feelings of belonging [17]. Therefore, in terms of
  individual identity the acceptance and integration into the
  society is so crucial. By doing this, individuals will identify
  the society with themselves and it will lead to maintaining
  their culture. Moreover, it must be pointed out that individuals
  have to tolerate the cultures they are in and should esteem it.
  B.Religion
  Religion is a very significant dimension of Ahiska Turkish
  ethnic identity [2]. Even though they are not rigid or strictly
  practice their religions, they could identify themselves with
  Islamic faith during their exile in Russia, unlike Kazakh and
  Kyrgyz Turks. There are many stories in which they tell their
  children about how they faced difficulties in order to practice
  their religious obligations during this period. Thus, religion as
  part of their identity has been with them all the time - before,
  during and after the exiles. Exclusively showing their religious
  engagements to Islam and practicing religious obligation
  publicly has caused them to show their bond to Islam as their
  boundaries with the non-Muslims changed. Thus, the very characteristic of the religious life of Ahiska Turks opened a
  reasonable space for them to live their history, tradition and
  culture during the time of exile. Therefore, many Ahiska
  Turks in Philadelphia believe that religious education is so
  important to help the new generation to keep and construct an
  Ahiskan identity to which they could hold even in the worst
  situation. Therefore, they ask their children to learn religion by
  sending them to Philadelphia Dialogue Forum, a Turkish
  Cultural Center in Philadelphia. There they get basic religious
  education and participated in weekly prayers. The children's
  ages differs from 7-13 years old. Volunteer Turkish people
  there try to teach and educate them in religious tradition as
  well as Turkish tradition. On the other hand it is clear as
  Tweed states, in his book Our Lady of Exile, religious
  cartography is active, not passive [15]. There is a clear
  difference between Ahiska Turks and Turkey's Turks
  perceptions of religion. While Ahiska Turks see religion as a
  basic cultural element, Turkish Turks see it as a more ritual
  and spiritual action in which they show their willingness to
  pray to God. In terms of Ahiska Turks understanding of
  religious practices, it is a symbol of their struggle during exile
  and remembering the hardships they faced just because of
  their religion and ethnicity. So, the symbolic importance of
  religion and its processive feature for the Ahiskans must be
  considered in terms of their century long struggles.
  C.Language
  The second most important thing that can be conceptualized
  as defining Ahiskan character, as well as keeping it, is
  language. Beside the Islamic faith during their struggle while
  in exile as well as in Philadelphia, in a multicultural
  environment, they always speak Turkish between themselves
  and are considered Turkish in their basic values. Now we will
  look at their perception of language deeper.
  Ahiska Turks clearly speak an Eastern Anatolian dialect of
  Turkish, which is very close to dialects of the provinces of
  Kars, Ardahan, Artvin as well as Azerbaijani Turkish. In
  terms of dialect, especially, it can be asserted that Turkish
  relationships with the Ahiska and their increasing connection
  may foresee the possibility of the Ahiskan dialect diminishing
  into the modern Turkish dialect in the near future [12].
  In terms of language Ahiska Turks, by keeping Turkish as
  their mother tongue, had to learn the countries' language in
  which they lived. So there are many languages that Ahiska
  Turks in the USA may know such as Turkish, Russian, Uzbek
  and English [7]. Turkish is a very important tool in terms of
  maintaining their loyalty to their history, culture, religion and
  self-respect. So, it means that if language is lost, everything is
  lost [12]. In terms of this Aydingün says “In fact, they judged
  their loyalty to the culture by their knowledge of the mother
  tongue, so much that sometimes language is treated as if
  language, ethnicity, ethnic pride and identity are one and the
  same thing” [2].
  Moreover, the exile and expulsion from their homeland has
  influenced their use of language also. Until 1926 they were
  using Arabic scripts and around 1920 it is replaced with Latin
  and later in 1930s they switched to Cyrillic alphabet. So, different generations of Ahiska Turks now know different
  kinds of alphabets in which they can read and reflect their
  writings. For instance, when I was interviewing with Imdat
  Aladinov he read a poem written by his friend in 1980’s in
  Turkish with Cyrillic alphabet when they were in Uzbekistan,
  in which he mentions the struggles from their first exile from
  Ahiska to Russia. Especially older Ahiska Turks in
  Philadelphia area now know different kinds of alphabets in
  which they can read and reflect in their writings. This
  however, does not prevent them from reading Turkish writings
  in different alphabets.
  D.Family
  With their family they talk Turkish, eat their traditional
  foods, practice Islamic religious obligations and live their
  traditional life. The design of their home in Philadelphia area
  is a very traditional Turkish home. Most of the traditional
  home decorations are made by Ahiskan Turks who live in the
  USA. Therefore, if a non-Ahiskan enters their home, he/she
  mostly will be surprised to see non-American cultures that are
  mostly very eastern and very Turkish home style.
  This very close and strictly traditional family structure of
  Ahiskan Turks can be compared with Amish society in a
  greater scale as a community. Similar to Ordnung [8], a
  written document binding Amish together, Ahiska Turks have
  a very strict oral law which they carried with them throughout
  their exile as well their life in the USA. Oral law is very
  effective in determining their relationship with each other as
  well as with others. Secondly, even though, the exclusion from
  community is not the way Ahiskan treat disobedient members
  of their society, the pressure they apply to their members and
  relatives is strong and effective on their decisions about their
  relationships with non-Ahiskans especially in terms of
  marriage with non-Ahiskans and non-Muslims.
  In addition to the home's external features, internally,
  family relations are so crucial for an Ahiska Turkish family.
  Usually Ahiska Turks consist of extended families which unite
  two to three generations together. Households’ size may vary
  between six to eight, sometimes to ten [2]. In terms of
  marriage, a traditional way of marriage is arranged marriages
  with relatives in order to strengthening family ties. Family
  structure is patriarchal in which the oldest male member is on
  the top of the hierarchy in the family [16], [12]. Even though
  the new generations were raised in different areas of the world
  such as Turkey, Azarbaijan or USA, they all understand and
  accept this core value of kinship [4].
  Moreover, Ahiska Turks are strong community oriented
  people, which extends beyond their own community. Russian
  persecution did not prevent Ahiska Turks creating good
  relationships with others even in the hard times in Krasnodar.
  Many say that Russian neighbors gave some of their bread
  which they bought with the permission of the local
  government to the Ahiska Turks. Especially since Russian was
  a common language for the older Ahiska Turks, they built
  good relationships with Russians in the USA in order to adapt
  to the work and social environment [12].
  E. Turkish Cultural Centers
  Turkish Cultural Centers which are established around the
  USA by Turkish people who came from different areas of
  Turkey became very important meeting, educating and
  religious places for Ahiskan Turks. Lacking of sound religious
  education primarily because of the exile years, they could not
  teach deep, religious knowledge to their children. The
  opportunities in the Turkish cultural centers in the USA to
  teach Turkish, Islam and Turkish culture became a crucial
  social environment for the Ahiska Turks. Ahiska Turks’ strong
  relationship, respect and love for their forefathers’ land,
  Turkey, enabled them to create very strong relationships with
  American Turks [4]. In one of the Ramadan Bayramı speeches
  to his Ahiskan fellows, Mikhail Latipov, in 2009 in
  Philadelphia, said “during the Russian regime we faced with
  very difficult times and situation but we could keep ourselves,
  religions cultures from Russian assimilation. However, in the
  USA, because of the extraordinary level of prosperity and
  freedom and pressure of capitalist regime to be more
  individualistic society endanger our self-conscious of being
  Ahiska community. That is why we need of our Turkish sisters
  and brothers for staying together, teaching together.” His
  worries show how he was so afraid of assimilation of any
  kind. In terms of using and learning English as their second
  language they always emphasize to their children the
  importance of Turkish for their identity. Therefore, in the
  Turkish Cultural Centers Turkish, instead of English, becomes
  the major language that people speak. This is a very
  convenient environment for Ahiska Turks to show their future
  generations a natural environment even though there are some
  dialectical differences. Turkish Cultural Centers, as in
  Philadelphia, became meeting places for religious services,
  funerals and marriage ceremonies. Every aspect of their life,
  then, they can live and experience in the cultural centers with
  their Turkish fellows. The Turkish flag is not only Turkey's
  flag, it is one of the most important symbols which Ahiska
  Turks respect, love and keep in their homes. During their exile
  period these kinds of symbols were helping them to feel a
  belonging to Turkey and Turkish people. In the Philadelphia
  area Ahiska Turks keep Turkish flags in their homes and
  rooms. Going back to Turkey in the future is another symbolic
  value which brings Ahiskans together in many circumstances.
  Thus, these two significant symbols belonging to Turkey
  contribute to their cultural identification of being Turkish.
  V.CONCLUSION
  Ahiska Turks' stories start in a very dramatic way. Many
  Ahiskans have a strong desire for having a homeland where
  they can live free. In this respect the USA is one of the best
  places that they could find. However, the capitalist system that
  presses on individualism and assimilation are the two biggest
  fears Ahiskans keep in their minds. In order to maintain their
  cultural identity, history and religion, they try to strongly
  embrace their core values: family, language and religious
  education. Turkish language as their mother tongue transmits,
  connects and creates strong relationships between them and
  their fellows around the world. Many Ahiska Turks' relatives
  live either in Russia or different parts of the Asian countries.
  Therefore, just as they were successful keeping their identity by holding their language, their aim in the USA is to not lose
  their consciousness of being Ahiskan by dreaming of going
  back there or to Turkey. On the other hand, many of them
  after feeling freedom in the USA do not want to go back
  because of the fear of facing similar destruction. Therefore,
  the best thing to do is to integrate into the US society without
  losing their identity. In order to do this, educating their
  children is so important to them. Collaborating with Turkish
  Cultural Centers around the USA is the one of the most
  significant chances they think that they have found here. Thus,
  by holding their family relations, practicing religions,
  dreaming about returning to Turkey, even though not
  considering themselves as Diaspora, they try to integrate into
  USA.

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  Kaynak: http://www.waset.org/journals/ijshs/v6/v6-61.pdf