Adjarians
აჭარლები, Ačarlebi | |
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Regions with significant populations | |
Georgia (mainly Adjara), Turkey | |
Languages | |
Adjaran dialect of Georgian language, Turkish language (minority)[1] | |
Religion | |
Sunni Islam Georgian Orthodox Church[2] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Gurians, Lazs, Imerkhevians and other Georgians |
Part of a series on |
Georgians ქართველები |
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Nation |
Georgia |
Ancient Kartvelian people |
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Subgroups |
Culture |
Languages |
Religion |
Symbols |
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History of Georgia |
The Adjarians (Georgian: აჭარლები, romanized: ach'arlebi)[a], also known as Muslim Georgians,[b][4] are an ethnographic group of Georgians indigenous to Adjara in south-western Georgia. Adjarian settlements are also found in the Georgian provinces of Guria, Kvemo Kartli, and Kakheti, as well as in several areas of neighbouring Turkey.
Adjarians converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of Adjara. Under the 1921 Treaty of Kars, Adjara was granted autonomy, to protect its Muslim faith. Despite their conversion to Islam, Adjarians have kept the Georgian language (with their own dialect) and traditions.[5] Still, their self-identification is ambiguous as their Islamic background is at odds with the Orthodox faith of their Georgian peers.[4] In the 1926 census, Ajars were categorized as a distinct ethnic group. In the 1939 census, they were included in the same category as Georgians.[6] Since Georgian independence, most Adjarians consider themselves Georgians,[7][2] but some Georgians have seen Muslim Adjarians as second-class "Turkicized" Georgians.[8][9][6][10][11]
History
Although the
During the 1853–1856 Crimean War and the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, many Adjarians fought on the side of the Turks.[16] The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin.[17] Russian authorities initially promoted emigration and many Adjarians moved to the Ottoman Empire.[18] However, Russian authorities then tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas.[18] As a result, many muhacir came back to Adjara.[18]
Achara joined the territory of Soviet Georgia under the 1921 Treaty of Kars, between the Ottoman Empire and the USSR. The treaty required that Achara would have "administrative autonomy and the right to develop its own culture, its own religion, and its own agrarian regime" to protect the Acharan Muslim identity.[14][15] At the time, Adjarians identified with their Turkish neighbors and fellow Muslims rather than with Georgians.[14] However, the Soviet atheist ideology dampened religious practice in the region, thus diminishing the Adjarian legitimation for autonomy within the Soviet system. In the 1920s, the Achars rebelled against the Soviet anti-Islamic activities and collectivization reforms.[14] Still, over time Adjarians began to identify more with the Georgians, whose language they spoke.[14]
The Georgian population of Adjara had been generally known as Muslim Georgians until the 1926 Soviet census listed them as Adjarians, separate from the rest of Georgians, counting 71,426 of them.[19] In subsequent censuses (1939–1989), they were listed with other Georgians, as no official Soviet census asked about religion.
In 1989, during an anti-Soviet demonstration in
There was a resurgence of the Adjarian religious identity during the
Ajarians, like Ossetians and Abkhazians, benefit from a special regime to claim Russian citizenship with an expedited application process, perceived as Russian interference by Georgia.[29]
Religion
In the sixteenth century, the majority of Adjara's population was Christian. By the end of the eighteenth century, all Adjarians were Muslim.[16] After Adjara was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin, Adjarians, who were Muslims, were allowed to leave for Turkey.[17] This was followed by an influx of Christians from Kakheti, resulting in a change of the religious landscape.[17]
The
Censuses in independent Georgia do not include an "Adjarian" category, nor do they distinguish between ethnic Georgian Muslims and other Muslims, such as Azerbaijanis.[36]
Language
Adjarians speak Adjarian, a Georgian dialect related to the one spoken in the neighbouring northern province of Guria, but with a number of Turkish loanwords. Adjarian also possesses many features in common with the Zan languages (Mingrelian and Laz), which are sisters to Georgian and are included in the Kartvelian language group.[citation needed]
See also
- Chveneburi, ethnic Georgians in Turkey many of whom are of Adjarian heritage
- Laz people, Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians
Notes
References
- ISSN 0263-4937.
Indeed, the Turkish language has not disappeared from remote rural or mountainous areas of Adjaria, where the elders still speak it fluently.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-5972-113-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g h George 2009, p. 121.
- ^ a b George 2009, p. 23.
- ISBN 978-0-299-14894-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-691-12383-7.
- ^ George 2009, p. 183.
- ^ "Ajarians | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-19-068311-5.
- ^ "Toward Inclusion: Understanding the Path to Unity in Georgia". Civil Georgia. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
Among ethnic Georgians, nationalist narratives dating back to the Soviet period highlight fears that minority groups could lay claims over Georgian territory. These fears were substantiated and entrenched by the traumatic experiences of the 1990s. A more fundamentalist narrative portrays minorities as guests or second-class citizens on Georgian territory, which should be subordinated to "true" Georgian national identity (Kartveloba). Against this backdrop, some minorities have perceived integration efforts as assimilation threats to their legitimate ethnic identities.
- ^ Zviadadze, Sophie (January 2018). "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Muslim and Georgian: Religious Transformation and Questions of Identity among Adjara's Muslim Georgians". Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. 7 (1): 36.
- ^ George 2009, pp. 99–100.
- ISBN 978-0-253-33958-4.
- ^ a b c d e George 2009, p. 105.
- ^ a b George 2009, p. 100.
- ^ a b Sanikidze 2018, p. 249.
- ^ a b c Hoch & Kopeček 2011, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Sanikidze 2018, p. 250.
- ^ Lorimer, Frank (1946). "The Population of the Soviet Union: History and Prospects" (PDF).
- ^ "Peripheral affects: shame, publics, and performance on the margins of the Republic of Georgia". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ISBN 978-9941-490-02-6.
- ^ Khalvashi, Tamta; Batiashvili, Nutsa (March 2009). "Can a Muslim be Georgian". International Conference on Central Eurasian Studies: Past, Present and Future.
- ^ a b c George 2009, p. 122.
- ^ Wheatley, Jonathan. Georgia from National Awakening to Rose Revolution : Delayed Transition in the Former Soviet Union. Post-Soviet Politics 290704146. Aldershot [etc.]: Ashgate, 2005: 229
- ISSN 2429-2133.
- ^ George 2009, p. 123.
- ^ George 2009, p. 175.
- ^ a b George 2009, pp. 122–123.
- ISSN 0032-342X.
- S2CID 225548999.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Georgia : Ajarians". Refworld. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ "Ajarians". Minority Rights Group. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ George Sanikidze and Edward W. Walker (2004), Islam and Islamic Practices in Georgia. Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies. University of California, Berkeley Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
- ^ Sanikidze 2018, p. 255.
- ^ "Religious composition of Georgia 2014". pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ George 2009, pp. 101–102.
Sources
- George, Julie A. (2009). The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-61359-1.
- Hoch, Tomáš; Kopeček, Vincent (2011). "Transforming Identity of Ajarian Population". ALPPI Annual of Language & Politics and Politics of Identity. V (5): 57–72. ISSN 1803-1757.
- Sanikidze, George (1 April 2018). "Muslim Communities of Georgia: Old Problems and New Challenges". Islamophobia Studies Journal. 4 (2): 247–265. ISSN 2325-8381.