2008, the Chechens are the greatest group (90% in 2007) of refugees arriving in Poland, on the eastern border of the EU. Spain has granted hundreds of Chechen families asylum since 1999. Thousands of others settled in the other EU countries, such as Sweden or Finland. Other countries Of 12,000 Chechen refugees who arrived in Azerbaijan, most moved on to Europe later (leaving some 5,000 in 2003, 2,000 in 2007, 586 in 2014, and 377 in 2019). As of early 2008, several hundred people live in the Canadian community. Of some 4,000 Chechens who have sought safety in neighbouring Georgia, the majority have settled in Pankisi Gorge and over 1,100 registered refugees remain there as of 2008. Some 3,000 to 4,000 Chechens arrived in Turkey, of which most also moved on further, but as of 2005 some 1,500 stayed. Many of the Chechen refugees in Turkey are yet to be given official refugee status by the Turkish government, without this status they will be unable to legally attend school or have jobs. is the main transit country for Chechen refugees traveling to Europe (some others travel through Belarus). There is also a small number of Chechens settled in Crimea. Since Yanukovich was elected, he has begun harassing the Chechen refugee settlements through police raids and sudden deportations, sometimes even separating families. As of early 2008, some 2,000-3,000 refugees live in the United Arab Emirates. In the United Kingdom there is a large number of Chechen refugees. Some of them are wanted by Russia but the UK government refuses to extradite them on grounds of concern for human rights. Some of the original Chechen separatist government figures, such as Akhmed Zakayev relocated to the UK. A small, but growing Chechen community exists in the United States, in particular California and New Jersey. Both Azerbaijan and Georgia have extradited some Chechen refugees to Russia in violation of their obligations under international law. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Georgia violated their rights. During the 2008 South Ossetia war, many of the more than 1,000 Chechen refugees in Pankisi Gorge fled towards Turkey along with their Georgian neighbours. Chechen refugees and exiles Ilyas Akhmadov Khassan Baiev Murat Gasayev Umar Israilov Mamed Khalidov Timur Mutsurayev Milana Terloeva Sulim Yamadayev Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev Akhmed Zakayev See also Chechen diaspora Muhajir (Caucasus), the emigration of Muslim indigenous peoples from the Caucasus into the Ottoman