Ahiska Turks mainly lived on the border of Georgia with Turkey. 40,000 Turkish citizens were enlisted in the army during World War II. The remaining 91,000 Turks immigrated to Uzbekistan in 1944, then to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey. Akhiska Turks in Kazakhstan make up the bulk of the Turkic ethnos. The Turkish Ethnocultural Center is the first of its kind in Kazakhstan. Rasul Akhmetov made a huge con-tribution to its development.
