{{Short description|Ethnographic group of Georgians}} {{About|Adjarians only|other ethnic Georgians of the Muslim faith|Muslim Georgians (disambiguation){{!}}Muslim Georgians}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Adjarians | native_name = {{lang|ka|აჭარლები}}, {{Transliteration|ka|Ačarlebi}} | native_name_lang = | image = Georgians (212).jpg | image_caption = Adjarians dancing | total = | regions = Georgia (mainly Adjara), Turkey | languages = Adjaran dialect of the Georgian language. | religions = Adjara region (2014 Census)<br> 54.5% Orthodox Christianity<br>39.8% Islam<br>2.8% None<br>0.3% Armenian Apostolic Church<br>1.3% Other<br>1.3% No answer<ref name="pop">[http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-religion2014b.htm georgia-religion 2014]</ref> }} {{Georgians}} The '''Adjarians''' ({{lang-ka|აჭარლები|tr}}),{{efn|Also spelled Adjars, Adjarans, Achars, Acharans, Acharians, Ajars, Ajarians, Adzhars, etc.}} sometimes also known by the misnomer of '''Muslim Georgians''',{{efn|Historically, the majority of Adjara's population was Christian. However, due to a long period of Turkish rule, which actively discriminated against Christians, Islam gained hold.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=249}} Following their reunification with the Georgian mainland, most Adjarians reverted back to Christianity and are again predominantly Christian.}} are an ethnographic group of Georgians indigenous to Adjara in southwestern 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.
Under the lengthy Ottoman rule, which actively favored Muslims over Christians,<ref>Gregory Jusdanis. ''"Belated Modernity and Aesthetic Culture"''. University of Minnesota Press: 1991, page 17, Quote: "non-Muslims had an inferior legal status...they paid higher taxes, they were not allowed to bear arms, their evidence was not valid in court against Muslims."[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Belated_Modernity_and_Aesthetic_Culture/tGie65GnkkYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=non-Muslims%20had%20an%20inferior%20legal%20status]</ref><ref>Julie Crea Dunbar. ''"Exploring World History Through Geography From the Cradle of Civilization to a Globalized World"'', The Advance of the Ottomans, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, Quote: "[Non-Muslims] had to pay higher taxes and follow restrictions, including ensuring their homes were not as tall as those of Muslims, not carrying weapons without permission...The empire considered non-Muslims inferior." [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Exploring_World_History_through_Geograph/B33CEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22had+to+pay+higher+taxes+and+follow+restrictions%22&pg=PT122&printsec=frontcover]</ref> many Adjarians converted to Islam; however, most of them have since reverted back to Christianity following their reunification with the Georgian mainland. Despite an extended period under Turkish rule, Adjarians have kept the Georgian language (with their own dialect) and traditions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Khazanov|first=Anatoly Michailovich |author-link=Anatoly Khazanov|year=1995|chapter=People with Nowhere To Go: The Plight of the Meskhetian Turks|title=After the USSR: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Politics in the Commonwealth of Independent States | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhtWbiXOzLcC&q=turkified&pg=PA192 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-14894-2 |page=195}}</ref> In the 1926 census, Adjarians were categorised as a distinct ethnic group. In the 1939 census, they were included in the same category as Georgians.<ref name="Toft2003">{{Cite book |last=Toft |first=Monica Duffy|author-link= Monica Toft|url=http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/2171/1/32.pdf.pdf |title=The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory |date=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12383-7 |language=en|page=108}}</ref> Since Georgian independence, most Adjarians consider themselves Georgians,{{sfn|George|2009|p=183}}<ref name=Nodia2006>{{Cite book |last1=Nodia |first1=Ghia |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11871213.pdf |title=The Political Landscape of Georgia: Political Parties: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects |last2=Scholtbach |first2=Álvaro Pinto |date=2006 |publisher=Eburon Uitgeverij B.V. |isbn=978-90-5972-113-5 |page=10 |language=en |author-link=Ghia Nodia}}</ref> but some segments of the Georgian society continue to view Muslim Adjarians as second-class "Turkicized" Georgians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ajarians {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/commonwealth-independent-states-and-baltic-nations/cis-and-baltic-political-geography/ajarians |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=de Waal |first=Thomas | author-link= Thomas de Waal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dp1DwAAQBAJ |title=The Caucasus: An Introduction |year=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=2 |isbn=978-0-19-068311-5 |language=en |page=149}}</ref><ref name="Toft2003" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Toward Inclusion: Understanding the Path to Unity in Georgia |url=https://civil.ge/archives/562740 |date=11 October 2023 |website=Civil Georgia |access-date=26 January 2024 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Zviadadze |first=Sophie |title=The Unbearable Lightness of Being Muslim and Georgian: Religious Transformation and Questions of Identity among Adjara's Muslim Georgians |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A566112065/AONE?sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=17363fc7 |journal=Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia |volume=7|issue=1 |page=36 |date=January 2018}}</ref>
==History == {{main|History of Adjara}} alt=|left|thumb|upright|Historical Adjarian men's clothing and weapons.
Adjarians, like other ethnographic groups of Georgians, have historically followed Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advantour.com/georgia/adjara/culture.htm|title=Culture of Adjara|access-date=27 July 2024}}</ref> However, in the course of the 200 years of Ottoman rule, which pursued discriminatory policies against Christians,<ref>Gregory Jusdanis. ''"Belated Modernity and Aesthetic Culture"''. University of Minnesota Press: 1991, page 17, Quote: "non-Muslims had an inferior legal status...they paid higher taxes, they were not allowed to bear arms, their evidence was not valid in court against Muslims."[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Belated_Modernity_and_Aesthetic_Culture/tGie65GnkkYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=non-Muslims%20had%20an%20inferior%20legal%20status]</ref><ref>Julie Crea Dunbar. ''"Exploring World History Through Geography From the Cradle of Civilization to a Globalized World"'', The Advance of the Ottomans, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, Quote: "[Non-Muslims] had to pay higher taxes and follow restrictions, including ensuring their homes were not as tall as those of Muslims, not carrying weapons without permission...The empire considered non-Muslims inferior." [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Exploring_World_History_through_Geograph/B33CEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22had+to+pay+higher+taxes+and+follow+restrictions%22&pg=PT122&printsec=frontcover]</ref> Adjarians gradually converted to Islam.{{sfn|George|2009|pp=99–100}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennigsen |first1=Alexandre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nO0NAQAAMAAJ |title=Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide |last2=Wimbush |first2=S. Enders |date=1986 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-33958-4 |pages=207 |language=en}}</ref> The nobility converted first.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=249}} Adjarians were fully Islamized by the end of the eighteenth century.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=249}}
During the 1853–1856 Crimean War and the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, as other Ottoman subjects many Adjarians fought on the side of the Turks.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=249}} The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin.{{sfn|Hoch|Kopeček|2011|p=7}} Russian authorities initially promoted emigration, allowing Muslims to sell their property and leave the country, as a result of which many Muslims moved to the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=250}} However, Russian authorities then tried to win the loyalty of local Muslims by building mosques and madrassas, reasoning that it was better to operate these religious establishments under strict supervision of the state, while prohibiting locals from studying in Muslim countries.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=250}} As a result, many muhacir came back to Adjara.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=250}}
Adjara became part of the independent Georgian Democratic Republic in 1918. However, in April 1918, the Ottoman Empire invaded Georgia and captured Batumi. On 4 June 1918, the Treaty of Batum was signed, under which Georgia was forced to cede Adjara to the Ottoman Empire.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Varshalomidze|first=Archil|date=2019|title=South-Western Georgia (Ajara) within the Geostrategic Interests of the Ottoman Empire in the First Quarter of XX Century|journal=Herald of Oriental Studies|url=https://hos.openjournals.ge/index.php/hos/article/download/2805/2955}}</ref> However, due to the Ottoman defeat in the First World War and the Treaty of Mudros, the Ottomans soon withdrew from the territory,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Saparov|first=Arsène|date=March 2012|title=Why Autonomy? The Making of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region 1918–1925|journal=Europe-Asia Studies|volume=64|issue=2|page=284|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41478346|doi=10.1080/09668136.2011.642583|jstor=41478346 |s2cid=154783461 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and Adjara fell under the temporary occupation of Great Britain.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rose|first=John D.|date=April 1980|title=Batum as Domino, 1919–1920: The Defence of India in Transcaucasia|journal=The International History Review|volume=2|issue=2|page=266|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40105753|doi=10.1080/07075332.1980.9640214|jstor=40105753 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> During this time, under the leadership of prominent Adjarian activist Memed Abashidze, the Congress of the Representatives of Muslim Georgians was held on 31 August 1919. It passed a resolution supporting reunification with Georgia and elected Majlis of Georgian Muslims, which represented Muslim Georgians in relation to the British administration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=მემედ აბაშიძე (ბეგი)|url=http://www.nplg.gov.ge/bios/ka/00000954/|access-date=2024-07-27 |publisher=National Parliamentary Library of Georgia}}</ref>
[[File:First Georgian female pilot Fadiko Gogitidze.jpg|thumb|upright|Fadiko Gogitidze, a pioneering Georgian female aviator of Adjarian provenance]]
The British administration ceded Adjara to the Democratic Republic of Georgia on July 20, 1920.<ref name=experiment>{{cite book|access-date=2022-09-05|date=2017|edition=1st|first1=Eric|isbn=978-1-78699-092-1|last1=Lee|location=London|pages=135|publisher=ZED Books|title=The Experiment: Georgia's Forgotten Revolution 1918-1921|url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-experiment-georgia-s-forgotten-revolution-19181921/}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rose|first=John D.|date=April 1980|title=Batum as Domino, 1919–1920: The Defence of India in Transcaucasia|journal=The International History Review|volume=2|issue=2|page=286|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40105753|doi=10.1080/07075332.1980.9640214|jstor=40105753 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> It was granted autonomy under the Georgian constitution adopted in February 1921 when the Red Army invaded Georgia.<ref name=constitution1921>{{Cite web| url=https://matiane.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/constitution-of-georgia-1921/ | title=Constitution Of Georgia (1921), Article 107| date=4 September 2012|publisher=Matiane |access-date=2022-09-05}}</ref> 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".{{sfn|George|2009|p=105}}{{sfn|George|2009|p=100}} 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.{{sfn|George|2009|p=105}} The armed uprising began in the mountainous regions of Adjara in April 1929. Soviet troops were deployed in response and swiftly quelled the revolt.<ref>Peter Malcolm Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis (1977), The Cambridge history of Islam, p. 639. Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-29136-4}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/1946/population.pdf|title=The Population of the Soviet Union: History and Prospects|last=Lorimer|first=Frank|date=1946}}</ref> In subsequent Soviet censuses, they were listed with other Georgians, and the question of religion was completely dropped from Soviet censuses after 1937.<ref name=Volkov>[https://demoscope.ru/weekly/knigi/polka/gold_fund08.html A. G. Volkov ''Census of 1937 Facts and Fictions''], originally published in Перепись населения СССР 1937 года. История и материалы/Экспресс-информация. Серия «История статистики». Выпуск 3–5 (часть II). М., 1990/ с. 6–63.</ref>
There was a resurgence of the Adjarian religious identity during the dissolution of the USSR.{{sfn|George|2009|p=121}} Islamic religious practice became the cultural norm, madrassas reopened and the call to prayer sounded from mosques.{{sfn|George|2009|p=121}} Local leader Aslan Abashidze leveraged the ongoing Islamic revival to advance his political goals.{{sfn|George|2009|p=121}} After the Georgian independence, the first Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia appointed Abashidze as the chairman of Ajaria's parliament in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|title=Adjara Celebrates Abashidze's Departure |date=6 May 2004 |url=https://civil.ge/archives/105875}}</ref> Taking advantage of the turmoil caused by the Georgian Civil War, War in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he unilaterally took power without formal agreement and started to withhold tax revenue and capture Adjara's considerable wealth.{{sfn|George|2009|p=121}}{{sfn|George|2009|p=123}} The Head Mufti of Achara, Haji Mahmud Kamashidze, supported Abashidze in his power struggle.{{sfn|George|2009|p=175}} However, after Abashidze reached his goals, he stopped using the Muslim movement for his political goals.{{sfn|George|2009|p=121}}{{sfn|George|2009|pp=122–123}} The 2004 Adjara crisis led to Aslan Abashidze stepping down from his post after thousands of Adjarians protested against his rule in Batumi in May 2004, with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili symbolically proclaiming "Abashidze has fled, Adjara is free".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://civil.ge/archives/105865|title= Abashidze Flees Georgia|date=6 May 2004}}</ref>
== Religion == In the sixteenth century, the majority of Adjara's population was Christian. By the end of the eighteenth century, the majority of Adjarians were Muslim.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=249}} 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.{{sfn|Hoch|Kopeček|2011|p=7}} This was followed by an influx of Christians from Kakheti, resulting in a change of the religious landscape.{{sfn|Hoch|Kopeček|2011|p=7}}
While the Russian authorities supported the Russian Orthodox Church's missionary efforts, they also tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas and supporting the local Muslim clergy.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=250}} As a result, some Adjarians emigrants, called Muhacir, came back to Adjara.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=250}}
The collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgian independence led to renewed interest in religion, including Islam. {{sfn|George|2009|p=121}} There was a new push for Christianization of remaining Muslim Adjarians, especially among the youth, during the government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia.{{sfn|Sanikidze|2018|p=255}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Köksal |first1=Pınar |last2=Aydıngün |first2=Ayşegül |last3=Gürsoy |first3=Hazar Ege |title=Religious Revival and Deprivatization in Post-Soviet Georgia: Reculturation of Orthodox Christianity and Deculturation of Islam |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-religion/article/abs/religious-revival-and-deprivatization-in-postsoviet-georgia-reculturation-of-orthodox-christianity-and-deculturation-of-islam/3733FD242B3627BF8509F501F522E0B3 |journal=Politics and Religion |year=2019 |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=317–345 |doi=10.1017/S1755048318000585 |s2cid=150339133 |issn=1755-0483|url-access=subscription |hdl=11511/41757 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kahraman |first=Alter |date=2021 |title=Azeris and Muslim Ajarians in Georgia: The Swing between Tolerance and Alienation |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0090599220000070/type/journal_article |journal=Nationalities Papers |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=308–325 |doi=10.1017/nps.2020.7 |s2cid=225548999 |issn=0090-5992|url-access=subscription |hdl=11492/4926 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Georgia : Ajarians |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d1ec.html |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-19 |title=Ajarians |url=https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ajarians/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Minority Rights Group |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>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.</ref>
According to the 2014 census, 54.5% of Adjarians are Orthodox Christian.<ref name="pop">[http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-religion2014b.htm georgia-religion 2014]</ref><ref name="geostat.ge">National Statistics Office of Georgia. [http://www.geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/census/2014/22_Population%20by%20regions%20and%20religion.xls Population Census 2014: Population by Regions and Religion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914035909/http://www.geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/census/2014/22_Population%20by%20regions%20and%20religion.xls |date=14 September 2016 }}, Retrieved: 6 May 2016</ref> In select municipalities, Muslims make up the majority, with 94.6% of the population in Khulo Municipality, 74.4% in Shuakhevi Municipality, 62.1% in Keda Municipality and 56.3% in Khelvachauri Municipality. In Batumi and Kobuleti Municipality Muslims make up a minority with 25.4% and 28.8%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Religious composition of Georgia 2014 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/georgia-religion2014b.htm |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}</ref>
== Language == Adjarians speak Adjarian, a Georgian dialect related to the one spoken in the neighboring 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/commonwealth-independent-states-and-baltic-nations/cis-and-baltic-political-geography/ajarians |title=Ajarians|website=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=2025-12-06 }}</ref>
== See also == *Chveneburi, ethnic Georgians in Turkey many of whom are of Adjarian heritage *Laz people, Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * {{cite book|last=George| first=Julie A.|year=2009| title= The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia | isbn=978-0-230-61359-1 |publisher = Palgrave Macmillan| doi= 10.1057/9780230102323}} * {{Cite journal |date=2011 |title=Transforming Identity of Ajarian Population |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=35267 |journal=ALPPI Annual of Language & Politics and Politics of Identity |language=English |volume=V |issue=5 |pages=57–72 |issn=1803-1757 |first1=Tomáš |last1= Hoch |first2= Vincent |last2=Kopeček}} * {{Cite journal |last=Sanikidze |first=George |date=2018-04-01 |title=Muslim Communities of Georgia: Old Problems and New Challenges |url=https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/islastudj.4.2.0247 |journal=Islamophobia Studies Journal |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=247–265 |doi=10.13169/islastudj.4.2.0247 |issn=2325-8381|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}
{{Ethnic groups in Georgia}} {{European Muslims}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Adjara Category:Islam in Georgia (country) Category:Ethnic groups in Georgia (country) Category:Georgian sub-ethnic groups