Abkhaz authorities will spare no efforts to help in the repatriation of ethnic Abkhazians from Turkey, Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh said on July 12.

Speaking with a visiting goup of ethnic Abkhaz from Turkey, he said “helping Abkhazians to return is a top priority” for the Abkhaz authorities, according to Bagapsh’s press service.

According to the report, Bagapsh plans to visit Turkey in September to meet the Abkhaz community there. He had planned to visit Turkey in April, but because of health problems, postponed the visit.

Tens of thousands of Muslim Abkhazians, known as Muhajirs, moved to the then Ottoman empire, as part of a larger Muslim migration pattern in the ninetenth century.