Adjarians
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The Adjarians (Ajarians, Ajars, Adjars, Adzhars; Georgian: აჭარლები, Ačarlebi) are an ethnographic group of Georgians that mostly live in southwest Georgia. The Adjarians have their own territorial unit—an autonomous republic of Adjara, founded on July 16, 1921, as Adjar ASSR. After years of post-Soviet stalemate, the region was, in 2004, completely brought within the framework of the Georgian state; it retains an autonomous status. Adjarian settlements are also found in the Georgian provinces of Guria, Kvemo Kartli, and Kakheti, as well as several areas of neighboring Turkey.
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[edit] Language
The Adjarians speak Adjaran, a local dialect of the Georgian language, related to that spoken in the neighboring northern province of Guria, but with a number of Turkish loanwords and with many common features with the Zan languages - Mingrelian and Laz - which are sisters to Georgian and are included in the Kartvelian or South Caucasian group.
[edit] Religion
The Adjarians were converted to Islam by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries when it occupied southwestern Georgian lands.
The Georgian population of Adjara had been generally known as Muslim Georgians until the 1926 Soviet census which listed them as Adjars, separately from the rest of Georgians, and counted 71,498 of them. In subsequent census (1939-1989), they have been listed with other Georgians as no official Soviet census asked about religion. In the 1920s, the suppression of religion and compulsory collectivization led to armed resistance by Adjarians to Communist authorities. Following suppression of the disturbances, many Adjarians were deported to Central Asia.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the re-establishment of Georgian independence accelerated the Christianization, especially among the young,[1] a process allegedly encouraged by the governmental officials. However, significant number of Ajarians remain Sunni Muslims. It is said that at the moment of Georgia's declaration of independence (1991), the number of Adjarian Muslims accounted for 70% though the data remain unverifiable as no Soviet statistics included the information on various religious segments. According to estimates recently published by the Department of Statistics of Adjara, 63% are Georgian Orthodox Christians, and 30% Muslim,[2] chiefly Sunnis of the Hanafi school.
[edit] History
[edit] Famous Ajarians
- Memed Abashidze (1873-1941), a prominent political leader of Muslim Georgians
- Aslan Abashidze (b. 1938), former regional leader
- Tbeli Abuserisdze (1190-1240), a Georgian writer and scientist
- Zurab Nogaideli (b. 1964 ), former Prime Minister of Georgia, (2005-2007)
- Levan Varshalomidze (b. 1973), current regional leader
[edit] See also
- Chveneburi, ethnic Georgians in Turkey many of whom are of Adjarian heritage.
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ (Georgian)Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Department of Statistics. According to the BBC, "nowadays about half the population professes the Islamic faith" BBC: Adjara profile.
- Nugzar Mgeladze (Translated by Kevin Tuite). Ajarians. World Culture Encyclopedia. Accessed on September 1, 2007.
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