Georgians in Turkey

Georgians in Turkey (Georgian: ქართველები თურქეთში) refers to citizens and denizens of Turkey who are, or descend from, ethnic Georgians.

Georgians in Turkey
Türkiye'deki Gürcüler
Map of ethnic Georgians significant distribution in Turkey
Total population
1,500,000[1][2][3]
Regions with significant populations
Black Sea Region, Marmara Region, Eastern Anatolia Region
Languages
Georgian, Turkish
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Laz people
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, is of Georgian descent.[4]

Numbers and distribution
Georgian-speaking population in Turkey[5]
Year As first language As second language Total Turkey's population % of Total speakers
1935 57,325 16,255 73,580 16,157,450 0.46
1945 40,076 9,337 49,413 18,790,174 0.26
1950 72,604 0 72,604 20,947,188 0.35
1955 51,983 24,720 76,703 24,064,763 0.32
1960 32,944 54,941 87,885 27,754,820 0.32
1965 34,330 44,934 79,234 31,391,421 0.25

In the census of 1965, those who spoke Georgian as first language were proportionally most numerous in Artvin (3.7%), Ordu (0.9%) and Kocaeli (0.8%).

Georgians live scattered throughout Turkey, although they are concentrated on two major regions of residence:[6]

Magnarella estimated the number of Georgians in Turkey to have been over 60,000 in 1979.[7]

Imerkhevians
  Distribution of the Imerkhevian dialect

Imerkhevians (Shavshetians) are an ethnographic subgroup of Georgians who speak the Imerkhevian dialect (imerkheuli) of the Georgian language, which shares many common features with the neighboring Adjarian.[8] Imerkhevians are indigenous population of Artvin Province.

The majority of the Imerkhevians today live in an area they call Imerkhevi, the name of the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Imerkhevian. The population of Imerkhevi is largely composed of ethnic Georgians, who inhabit 14 hamlets around Meydancık, formerly known as Diobani. These settlements have both official Turkish and unofficial Georgian names. Reflecting some internal differentiation persisting in Turkey's Georgian community, the Imerkhevians claim a different origin from the Georgians in the Borçka area, who have adopted an inclusive Adjar identity. The Imerkhevians are Sunni Muslims, closely integrated with the Turkish society. Almost all are bilingual in Georgian and Turkish.

Chveneburi

Chveneburi had arrived in Turkey basically in three waves of migration due to pogroms and what is now termed ethnic cleansing of Caucasians by the Russian Empire. The first wave was during and after the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 when the Sublime Porte consigned its sovereignty over several parts of Georgia to the Russian Empire.

Minor immigrations had also followed until the end of Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878 when Ottoman Empire allowed Chveneburis to immigrate, the major wave of immigration involved at least 500,000 people from historic Georgian regions that had considerable Muslim populations such as Batumi and Kars.[9] This wave of being muhajirs, known as muhajiroba (მუჰაჯირობა) had left many Muslim-majority regions of Georgia virtually depopulated.

The last sizable wave of immigration was in 1921 when Turkey finally gave up its claims on Adjara in the Treaty of Kars with the Soviet republics. This last wave also involved Turkish-speaking Muslims from Upper Adjara. Adjarians were also known by their places of origin, such as Batumlular for people from Batumi, Çürüksulular for people from Kobuleti.

Ali Pasha of Çürüksu (front row, middle) and Ottoman Georgians during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). At the end of the war, the re-settlement of Ottoman Georgians in Fatsa was supervised by Ali Pasha.[10]

Chveneburi (Georgian: ჩვენებური, çveneburi), meaning "of us" in Georgian, is an autonym of Muslim immigrants of Georgian descent who had settled in non-Georgian majority regions of Turkey, thus, "of us" signifies a triple distinction from Christian Georgians, Muslim Turks, and autochthonous Muslim Georgians from Artvin. As with most Turkish citizens, most Chveneburi subscribe to the Hanafi madh'hab of Sunni Islam.

Press

The most important Georgian cultural magazine in Turkey also bears the name Çveneburi. It was founded in 1977 in Stockholm, Sweden by Shalva Tevzadze. It is distributed in Turkey by Ahmet Özkan Melashvili, who also wrote the book Gürcüstan (Georgia) in 1968. In 1980, Özkan was assassinated in Bursa by the Grey Wolves.[11] Since then, Fahrettin Çiloğlu has been in charge of the magazine (1993). Between 1997 and 2006, Osman Nuri Mercan was the editor of the magazine. The magazine's content is almost completely in Turkish and presents articles on Chveneburi as well as the present situation and the history of Georgia and Georgians worldwide. Another journal, Pirosmani, bilingual in Georgian and Turkish, is published in Istanbul, sponsored by the Georgian Catholic Simon Zazadze.

Group identity

Group identity is shaped basically by the schism with Christian Georgians. Chveneburi usually restrains from using the word Kartveli (ქართველი) as a self-designation because they think it indicates being a Christian.[12] They prefer to use Gurji (Gürcü) (გურჯი) when referring to their more precise ethnic background.

Intermarriage with other Sunni groups is common. In some regions, specifically Ünye for instance, Chveneburi women are sought-after brides, seen by the local rural Turkish population as beautiful and hard-working wives. This phenomenon further accelerates the cultural and linguistic assimilation of the community.

See also

References
  1. The Other Languages of Europe: Demographic, Sociolinguistic, and Educational Perspectives, p. 420, at Google Books
  2. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook, p. 291, at Google Books
  3. "Ethnic groups in Turkey: Georgians". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. Candar, Cengiz (2014-08-07). "Erdogan plays to base by slighting Armenians". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  5. Fuat Dündar, Türkiye Nüfus Sayımlarında Azınlıklar, 2000
  6. "Türkiye'deki Gürcü Köylerinde Alan Çalışmasının Sonuçları". Çveneburi. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  7. Peter A. Andrews & Rüdiger Benninghaus (1989), Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, Vol. 1, p. 174. Reichert, ISBN 3-88226-418-7.
  8. Tuite, Kevin (1998), Kartvelian morphosyntax: number agreement and morphosyntactic oritntation in the South Caucasian languages, p. 178. Lincom Europa.
  9. "Muhacir Gürcüler yada Çveneburiler - მუჰაჯირი ქართველები ან ჩვენებურები". Çveneburi. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  10. BERAT YILDIZ, EMIGRATIONS FROM THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE TO THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: AN ANALYSIS IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW ARCHIVAL MATERIALS, BILKENT UNIVERSITY
  11. .

Bibliography
  • Black Sea: Encyclopedic Dictionary (Özhan Öztürk. Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2. Cilt. Heyamola Publishing. Istanbul. 2005. ISBN 975-6121-00-9.)
  • Paul J. Magnarella, The Peasant Venture: Tradition, Migration, and Change among Georgian Peasants in Turkey. (Schenkman Publishing Company: Cambridge, MA, 1979) ISBN 0-8161-8271-X
  • Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007). Özkan, Ahmet. Dictionary of Georgian National Biography.
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