Iranian Georgians

{{short description|Iranian residents who are ethnically Georgian}} {{infobox ethnic group| | group = Iranian Georgians<br />{{Nobold|{{lang|ka|ირანის ქართველები}}<br />{{lang|fa|گرجی‌های ایران}}}} | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | population = 100,000+<ref name="Rezvani">{{cite journal|last=Rezvani|first=Babak|title=The Fereydani Georgian Representation|journal=Anthropology of the Middle East|date=Winter 2009|volume=4|issue=2|pages=52–74|doi=10.3167/ame.2009.040205}}</ref> | popplace = [[Fereydan]], [[Gilan]], [[Mazandaran]], [[Golestan Province|Golestan]], [[Khuzestan Province|Khuzestan]], [[Isfahan Province|Isfahan]], [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]], [[Semnan province|Semnan]], [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]], [[Tehran]] | rels = [[Shia Islam]]<ref name=Rezvani /> | langs = [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Mazandarani language|Mazandarani]], [[Gilaki language|Gilaki]], [[Dezfuli dialect|Dezfuli]]–[[Shushtari dialect|Shushtari]] | related_groups = | related-c = [[Georgians]], other [[Demographics of Iran|Iranians]] }} {{Georgians}} '''Iranian Georgians''' or '''Persian Georgians''' ({{lang-ka|ირანის ქართველები}}; {{langx|fa|گرجی‌های ایران}}) are [[Iran]]ian citizens who are ethnically [[Georgians|Georgian]]. Present day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] was a subject of Iran in ancient times under the [[Achaemenid]] and [[Sassanian]] empires, spanning the [[Safavids|Safavid]] and [[Qajars|Qajar]] eras. Several Iranian rulers, such as [[Shah Abbas I]], forcibly relocated hundreds of thousands of Georgian [[Christianity in Georgia (country)|Christians]] and [[Georgian Jews|Jews]]. These measures were enacted to weaken the [[Qizilbash]] and promote economic growth.<ref>Matthee, Rudolph P. (1999), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5U0yECMV--wC The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730]''.</ref> Many of them also migrated voluntarily, including the nobility <ref>Roger Savory. [https://books.google.com/books?id=v4Yr4foWFFgC&dq=georgian+nobles+voluntarily+safavid&pg=PA184 ''Iran Under the Safavids''] [[Cambridge University Press]], 24 sep. 2007. {{ISBN|0521042518}} p 184</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rezvani|first1=Babak|title=Iranian Georgians: Prerequisites for a Research|journal=Iran and the Caucasus|date=2009|volume=13|pages=197–204|doi=10.1163/160984909X12476379008287}}</ref> as well as some that moved as [[Ethnic cleansing of the Circassians|muhajirs]] in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian [[Russo-Persian Wars|conquest]] of the [[Caucasus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caucasus-survey.org/vol1-no2/yemelianova-islam-nationalism-state-muslim-caucasus.php |title=Caucasus Survey |access-date=3 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415070826/http://www.caucasus-survey.org/vol1-no2/yemelianova-islam-nationalism-state-muslim-caucasus.php |archive-date=15 April 2015 }}</ref>{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=336}} The Georgian community of [[Fereydunshahr]] has retained its distinct Georgian identity to this day, despite [[Islamisation]] and adopting certain aspects of [[Iranian culture]] such as the [[Persian language]].<ref>Muliani, S. (2001) Jaygah-e Gorjiha dar Tarikh va Farhang va Tammadon-e Iran. Esfahan: Yekta [The Georgians’ position in the Iranian history and civilization]</ref><ref>Rahimi, M.M. (2001) Gorjiha-ye Iran; Fereydunshahr. Esfahan: Yekta [The Georgians of Iran; Fereydunshahr]</ref><ref>Sepiani, M. (1980) Iranian-e Gorji. Esfahan: Arash [Georgian Iranians]</ref>

== History == [[File:Safavid Courtiers Leading Georgian Captives (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).jpg|thumb|left|Safavid courtiers leading Georgian captives. A mid-16th century Persian textile panel from the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]

===Safavid era=== The first extant community of Georgians within Iran was likely created following [[Tahmasp I's Kakhetian and Kartlian campaigns]], in which he deported some 30,000 Georgians and other Caucasians back to mainland [[Safavid Iran]].<ref>Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Bernard Lewis, Johannes Hendrik Kramers, Charles Pellat, Joseph Schacht. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PJPrAAAAMAAJ&q=tahmasp+I+30,000+men+and+women+georgia ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam, parts 163-178''] (Volume 10). Original from the [[University of Michigan]]. p 109</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tahmasp-i|title=ṬAHMĀSP I|access-date=29 October 2015}}</ref> The first settled Georgian communities in Iran however appeared in the 1610s when [[Shah Abbas I]] relocated nearly two hundred thousand from their historical homelands in the eastern Georgian provinces of [[Kakheti]] and [[Kartli]] against [[Teimuraz I of Kakheti]] and [[Luarsab II of Kartli]] respectively.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|pages=291, 536}} Most of modern-day Iranian Georgians are the descendants of these deportees,<ref name="Rezvani" /> although some can trace their heritage to the initial deportees under the reign of [[Tahmasp I]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BMVnw9JQh8C|title=Slaves of the Shah:New Elites of Safavid Iran|year=2004|isbn=9781860647215|access-date=1 April 2014|last1=Babaie|first1=Sussan|last2=Babayan|first2=Kathryn|author-link2=Kathryn Babayan|last3=Baghdiantz-Maccabe|first3=Ina|last4=Farhad|first4=Mussumeh|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>

Subsequent waves of large deportations after Abbas were ochestrated from the 17th till the 19th centuries by the [[Qajar dynasty]]. Some Georgians also migrated as [[Ethnic cleansing of the Circassians|muhajirs]] in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the [[Caucasus]]. The Georgian deportees were settled by the Shah's government into the scarcely populated lands which they quickly utilized as farming lands. Many of these new settlements were given Georgian names, reflecting the toponyms found in Georgia. During the [[Safavid]] era, Georgia became so politically and culturally intertwined with Iran that Georgians began replacing the [[Qizilbash]] among the Safavid officials, alongside the [[Circassians]] and [[Armenians]].

During his travels the Italian adventurer [[Pietro Della Valle]] claimed that there was no household in Persia without their own Georgian slaves, noticing the huge amounts of Georgians present everywhere in society.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/1615432|title=Georgians in Safavid Iran|access-date=26 April 2014|last1=Matthee |first1=Rudolph (Rudi) }}</ref> The later Safavid capital, Isfahan, was home to many Georgians. Many of the city's inhabitants were of Georgian, [[Circassians|Circassian]], and [[Dagestan|Dagestani]] descent.<ref name="Isfahan-Safavid Period VII">{{Cite web|url=https://iranicaonline.org/|title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=Foundation|website=iranicaonline.org|accessdate=1 December 2022}}</ref> Engelbert Kaempfer, who was in Safavid Persia, estimated their number at 20,000.<ref name="Isfahan-Safavid Period VII"/>{{sfn|Matthee|2012|page=67}}

Following an agreement between Shah Abbas I and his Georgian subject [[Teimuraz I of Kakheti]] ("Tahmuras Khan"), the latter submitted to Safavid rule in exchange for being allowed to rule as the region's wāli (governor) and for having his son serve as [[darugha|dāruḡa]] ("prefect") of Isfahan.<ref name="Isfahan-Safavid Period VII"/> The royal court in Isfahan had a great number of Georgian ḡolāms (military slaves) as well as Georgian women.<ref name="Isfahan-Safavid Period VII"/> Although they primarily spoke Persian or Turkic, their [[mother tongue]] was Georgian.<ref name="Isfahan-Safavid Period VII"/>

During the last days of the [[Safavid]] empire, rivals such as the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]], [[Imperial Russia]], and the tribal [[Demographics of Afghanistan|Afghans]] invaded Iran. The Iranian Georgian contribution in wars against the invading Afghans was crucial. Georgians fought in the battle of Golnabad, and in the battle of [[Fereydunshahr]]. In the latter battle they brought a humiliating defeat to the Afghan army.

In total, Persian sources mention that during the Safavid era 225,000 Georgians were settled in the Iranian mainland during the first two centuries, while Georgian sources keep this number at 245,000.<ref name="Iranian Georgians">Babak Rezvani. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Babak_Rezvani/publication/228110081_Iranian_Georgians_Prerequisites_for_a_Research/links/0fcfd4ff49600769aa000000.pdf Iranian Georgians]</ref>

===Afsharid era=== During the [[Afsharid dynasty]], 5,000 Georgian families were moved to the mainland according to the Persian sources,<ref name="Iranian Georgians"/> with the Georgian sources number the deportees at 30,000 people.<ref name="Iranian Georgians"/>

===Qajar era=== During the [[Qajar dynasty]], the last Iranian empire that would have control over Georgia, 15,000 Georgians were moved to Iran according to the Persian sources, while the Georgian ones mention 22,000 people.<ref name="Iranian Georgians"/> This last large wave of Georgian movement and settlement towards mainland Iran happened as a result of the [[Battle of Krtsanisi]] in 1795.

===Modern Iran=== Despite their isolation from Georgia, many Georgians have preserved their language and some traditions, but have since embraced [[Islam in Iran|Islam]]. The ethnographer Lado Aghniashvili was first from Georgia to visit this community in 1890.

In the aftermath of [[World War I]], the Georgian minority in Iran was caught in the pressures of the rising [[Cold War]]. In 1945, the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] earmarked them as well as other minorities in northern Iran as potential political turncoats. While the [[Georgian SSR|Soviet Georgian]] leadership wanted to repatriate them to Georgia, the central leadership preferred to keep them in Iran. However, any such plans of using them to foment revolution in Iran were foiled due to joint [[United States|American]] and Iranian efforts against Soviet interference.<ref>Svetlana Savranskaya and Vladislav Zubok (editors), [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/f-research_notes.pdf Cold War International History Project Bulletin, I issue, 14/15 – Conference Reports, Research Notes and Archival Updates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215145138/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/f-research_notes.pdf |date=2006-12-15 }}, p. 401. [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]. Accessed on September 16, 2007.</ref>

In June 2004, Georgian president [[Mikheil Saakashvili]] became the first Georgian politician to have visited the Iranian Georgian community in [[Fereydunshahr]]. Thousands of local Georgians gave the delegation a warm welcome, which included waving the newly adopted [[Flag of Georgia (country)|Georgian national flag]] with its five crosses.<ref>Sanikidze, George. Walker, Edward W. [http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7149d486#page-22 ''Islam and Islamic Practices in Georgia''] Publication Date; 08-01-2004. p 19</ref>{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=536}} Saakashvili who stressed that the Iranian Georgians have historically played an important role in defending Iran put flowers on the graves of the Iranian Georgian dead who had died in [[Iran–Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1383/830420/html/internal.htm |title=Iran Newspaper |access-date=2007-02-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051129005643/http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1383/830420/html/internal.htm |archive-date=2005-11-29 }}</ref>

==Notable Georgians of Iran== [[File:Ali Culi Jabbadar 001.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Shah Suleiman I and his courtiers, Isfahan, 1670. Painter is [[Aliquli Jabbadar]], and is kept at The [[Saint Petersburg]] Institute of Oriental Studies in Russia, ever since it was acquired by [[Tsar Nicholas II]]. Note the [[Georgian script|Georgian letters]] at the top left.]]

Many [[Iran]]ian military commanders and administrators were (Islamized) Georgians.<ref>Babak Rezvani. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_gMXAwAAQBAJ&dq=caucasian+khans+member+iranian+royal+family&pg=PA171 "Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan"] Amsterdam University Press, 15 mrt. 2014 ISBN {{ISBN|978-9048519286}} p 171</ref> Many members of the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid]] and [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] dynasties and nobility had Georgian blood.<ref>Aptin Khanbaghi (2006)The Fire, the Star and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early. London & New YorkIB Tauris. {{ISBN|1-84511-056-0}}, pp. 130-1.</ref><ref>Babak Rezvani. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_gMXAwAAQBAJ&dq=caucasian+khans+member+iranian+royal+family&pg=PA171 "Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan"] Amsterdam University Press, 15 mrt. 2014 {{ISBN|978-9048519286}} p 171</ref> In fact, the heavily mixed Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) was of partial Georgian origins [[Safavid dynasty family tree|from its very beginning]].

===List of Iranian Georgians=== {{Incomplete list|date=September 2016}} '''Military:''' [[Allahverdi Khan]], [[Otar Beg]], [[Rostam Khan (sepahsalar under Safi)]], [[Imam Quli Khan (Safavid governor)|Imam-Quli Khan]], [[Yusef Khan-e Gorji]], [[Grigor Mikeladze]], [[Konstantin Mikeladze]], [[Daud Khan Undiladze]], [[Prince Rostom of Kartli|Rustam Khan the ''qullar-aqasi'']], [[Prince Alexander of Kartli (died 1711)|Eskandar Mirza]] (d. 1711), [[Kaikhosro of Kartli]], [[Levan of Kartli|Shah-Quli Khan]] (Levan of Kartli), [[Prince Alexander of Georgia|Eskandar Mirza]] (Prince Alexander of Georgia), [[Vsevolod Starosselsky]]

'''Arts:''' [[Aliquli Jabbadar]], [[Antoin Sevruguin]], [[André Sevruguin]], [[Nima Yooshij]], [[Siyâvush Beg Gorji]], Ahmad Beg Gorji Aktar (fl. 1819) and his brother Mohammad-Baqer Beg "Nasati”,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Khaleghi-Motlagh|first1=DJ|title=Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 7|date=1984|pages=730–731|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aktar-ahmad-beg-gorji-a-poet-of-the-era-of-fath-ali-shah-qaar-1212-50-1797-1834|access-date=15 February 2015|chapter=Aḵtar, Aḥmad Beg Gorjī}}</ref>

'''Royalty/nobility:'''{{refn|group=note|Most of the nobility and royalty of Georgian descent held numerous functions as officials and/or in the military, but are, for the sake of coherence and simplicity, virtually only included here in the list of "Royalty/nobility".}} [[Bijan Beg Saakadze]], [[Simon II of Kartli|Semayun Khan]] (Simon II of Kartli), [[Otar Beg]], [[Abd-ol-Ghaffar Amilakhori]], [[Zurab I, Duke of Aragvi|Sohrab I, Duke of Araghvi]] (Zurab), [[Pishkinid dynasty]], [[Haydar Mirza Safavi]], [[Safi of Persia]], [[Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah]], [[George XI of Kartli|Gurgin Khan]] (George XI of Kartli), [[David II of Kakheti|Imam Quli Khan]] (David II of Kakheti), [[Bagrat VII of Kartli|Bagrat Khan]] (Bagrat VII), [[Constantine I of Kakheti|Constantine Khan]] (Constantine I), [[Constantine II of Kakheti|Mahmud Quli Khan]] (Constantine II of Kakheti), [[Ivane Bagrationi]], [[Heraclius I of Kakheti|Nazar Ali Khan]] (Heraclius I of Kakheti), [[Prince Jesse of Kakheti|'Isa Khan Gorji]] (Prince Jesse of Kakheti), [[Jesse of Kakheti|Isa Khan]] (Jesse of Kakheti), [[Princess Ketevan of Kakheti]], [[Levan of Kartli|Shah-Quli Khan]] (Levan of Kartli), [[Manuchar II Jaqeli]], [[Prince Aleksandre of Georgia|Eskandar Mirza]] (Prince Aleksandre of Georgia), [[Vakhtang V|Shah Navaz]] (Vakhtang V of Kartli), Mustafa, fourth son of Tahmasp I,<ref>Juan de Persia, ''Don Juan of Persia'', (Routledge, 2004), 129.</ref> Heydar Ali, third son of Tahmasp I.<ref>Savory, Roger, ''Iran Under the Safavids'', (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 68.</ref>

'''Academics:''' [[Parsadan Gorgijanidze]], [[Jamshid Giunashvili]], [[Mohammad-Taqi Bahar]], [https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/display/lkarimi Professor Leila Karimi]

'''Politicians/officials:''' [[Shahverdi Khan (Georgian)]], [[Manuchehr Khan Gorji]] (''Motamed-od-dowleh''), [[Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan|Amin al-Sultan]], [[Bahram Aryana]], [[Vakhushti Khan Orbeliani]], [[Ahmad ibn Nizam al-Mulk]], [[Prince Alexander of Kartli (died 1773)|Ishaq Beg]] (Alexander of Kartli, d. 1773), [[Bijan Beg (son of Rustam Khan)|Bijan Beg]] (son of Rustam Khan the ''sipahsalar''), [[Prince Jesse of Kakheti|'Isa Khan Gorji]], Otar Beg Orbeliani,

'''Others:''' [[Undiladze]], [[Mahmoud Karimi Sibaki]]

The names of actors [[Cyrus Gorjestani]] and [[Sima Gorjestani]], as well as the late [[Nematollah Gorji]], suggest that they are/were (at least from the paternal side) of Georgian origin. [[Reza Shah]] [[Pahlavi dynasty|Pahlavi]]'s mother was a [[Georgians|Georgian]] [[Ethnic cleansing of Circassians|muhajir]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pTVSPmyvtkAC&q=reza+shah+mother+georgian+origin&pg=PA4|title=The Life and Times of the Shah|isbn=9780520942165|access-date=22 April 2015|last1=Afkhami|first1=Gholam Reza|date=12 January 2009|publisher=University of California Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRZ227eqm4sC&q=reza+shah+georgian+origin&pg=PA3|title=The Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam|isbn=9781908433015|access-date=22 April 2015|last1=Adel|first1=Gholamali Haddad|last2=Elmi|first2=Mohammad Jafar|last3=Taromi-Rad|first3=Hassan|date=31 August 2012|publisher=EWI Press }}</ref> who most likely came to mainland [[Qajar dynasty|Persia]] after Persia was forced to cede all of its territories in the [[Caucasus]] following the [[Russo-Persian Wars]] several decades prior to Reza Shah's birth.

For a more lengthy discussion on Georgians and Persia refer to.<ref>''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' on {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312034801/http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f5/v10f504a.html Gorjestan]}}</ref>

==Geographic distribution, language and culture== {{see also|Fereydan}} [[File:F. Dei tu deis Sasursato Magazia.jpg|thumb|right| A shop in [[Fereydunshahr]] with Georgian signage]] The [[Georgian language]] is still used by a minority of people in Iran. The center of [[Georgian people|Georgians]] in Iran is [[Fereydunshahr]], a small city, 150 km to the west of [[Isfahan (city)|Isfahan]] in the area historically known as [[Fereydan]]. In this area there are 10 Georgian towns and villages around Fereydunshahr. In this region the old Georgian identity is retained the best compared to other places in Iran, and most people speak and understand the Georgian language there.

There were other compact settlements in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] at [[Abbas Aba]]d (half-way between [[Shahrud, Iran|Shahrud]] and [[Sabzevar]] where there remained only one old woman who remembered Georgian in 1934), [[Mazandaran]] at [[Behshahr]] and Farah Abad, [[Gilan]], [[Isfahan Province]] at [[Najafabad]], [[Badrud]], [[Rahmatabad, Natanz|Rahmatabad]], Yazdanshahr and Amir Abad. These areas are frequently called [[Gorji Mahalleh, Mazandaran|Gorji Mahalleh]] ("Georgian neighborhood"). Many Georgians or Iranians of partial Georgian descent are also scattered in major Iranian cities, such as [[Tehran]], [[Isfahan]], [[Rasht]], [[Dezful]], [[Karaj]] and [[Shiraz]].  Most of these communities no longer speak the Georgian language, but retain aspects of Georgian culture and keep a Georgian conscious.{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=291}} Some argue that Iranian Georgians retain remnants of Christian traditions, but there is no evidence for this. Most Georgians in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan speak and understand Georgian. Iranian Georgians observe the Shia traditions and also non-religious traditions similar to other people in Iran. They observe the traditions of [[Nowruz]].

The local self-designation of Georgians in Iran, like the rest of the Georgians over the world is ''[[Kartveli]]'' ({{lang-ka|ქართველი}}, from Kartvelebi, Georgian: ქართველები, namely ''Georgians''), although occasionally the ethnonyms Gorj, Gorji, or even Gurj-i (from [[Persian language|Persian]] "Gorji" which means Georgian). They call their language Kartuli (Georgian: ქართული). As Rezvani states, this is not surprising given that all other Georgian dialects in Iran are extinct.

The number of Georgians in Iran is estimated to be over 100,000. According to Encyclopaedia Georgiana (1986) some 12,000–14,000 lived in rural Fereydan c. 1896,<ref>''Encyclopaedia Georgiana'' (1986), vol. 10, Tbilisi: p. 263.</ref> and a more recent estimation cited by Rezvani (published 2009, written in 2008) states that there may be more than 61,000 Georgians in Fereydan.<ref>Rezvani, Babak. ''The Fereydani Georgian Representation of Identity and Narration of History '' 2009 Journal; Anthropology of the Middle East. Berghahn Journals. Vol 4. No 2. p 52</ref> Modern-day estimations regarding the number of Iranian Georgians are that they compose over 100,000. They are also the largest Caucasus-derived group in the nation, ahead of the [[Circassians in Iran|Circassians]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=stl97FdyRswC&dq=number+of+circassians+in+iran&pg=PA141 ''Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East''] Facts On File, Incorporated {{ISBN|143812676X}} p 141</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Georgia (country)|Iran}} *[[Georgia–Iran relations]] *[[Georgia–Persia relations]] *[[Islam in Georgia (country)|Islam in Georgia]] *[[Georgian diaspora]] *[[Georgians in Turkey]] *[[Kakhetians]] *[[Abbas I's Kakhetian and Kartlian campaigns]] *[[List of Georgians]] *[[Circassians in Iran]] *[[Khudsiani]]

==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}

== External links == *Pierre Oberling, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140601/http://iranica.com/newsite/articles/v5f1/v5f1a032.html Georgian communities in Persia]}}. ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' *{{in lang|ka}} [http://www.fereidani.ge/ Fereydan - ''Little Georgia''] *{{in lang|ka}} [http://www.irib.ir/worldservice/georgianradio/default.htm Georgian Radio of Iran] * Ali Attār, ''Georgians in Iran'', in Persian, Jadid Online, 2008, [http://www.jadidonline.com/story/22082008/frnk/georgians_in_iran گرجی تباران ایران {{!}} جدید آنلاین].<br />''A Slide Show of Georgians in Iran'' by Ali Attār, Jadid Online, 2008, [http://www.jadidonline.com/images/stories/flash_multimedia/Georgians_in_iran_test/muliani_high.html Untitled Document] (5 min 31 sec).

== References == {{Reflist|2}}

==Sources== * {{cite book | last1 = Fisher | first1 = William Bayne | last2 = Avery | first2= P. | last3 = Hambly | first3 = G. R. G | last4 = Melville | first4 = C. | title = The Cambridge History of Iran | volume = 7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H20Xt157iYUC&q=agha+muhammad+khan+invade+georgia | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | location = Cambridge | year = 1991 | isbn = 0521200954 }} * {{cite book|last1=Matthee|first1=Rudi|title=Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan|date=2012|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1845117450}} * {{cite book|last1=Mikaberidze|first1=Alexander|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1442241466|edition=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNNQCgAAQBAJ&q=sakhltukhutsesi}} * Muliani, S. (2001) Jâygâhe Gorjihâ dar Târix va Farhang va Tamaddone Irân (The Georgians’ Position in Iranian History and Civilization). Esfahan: Yekta Publication. {{ISBN|978-964-7016-26-1}}. {{in lang|fa}} * Rahimi, M. M. (2001) Gorjihâye Irân: Fereydunšahr (The Georgians of Iran; Fereydunshahr). Esfahan: Yekta Publication. {{ISBN|978-964-7016-11-7}}. {{in lang|fa}} * Sepiani, M. (1980) Irâniyâne Gorji (Georgian Iranians). Esfahan: Arash Publication. {{in lang|fa}} * Rezvani, B. (2008) "The Islamization and Ethnogenesis of the Fereydani Georgians". ''Nationalities Papers'' 36 (4): 593-623. {{doi|10.1080/00905990802230597}} * Oberling, Pierre (1963). "Georgians and Circassians in Iran". ''Studia Caucasica'' (1): 127-143 * Saakashvili visited Fereydunshahr and put flowers on the graves of the Iranian Georgian martyrs' graves, showing respect towards this community [https://web.archive.org/web/20051129005643/http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1383/830420/html/internal.htm#s348336 Iran Newspaper] {{in lang|fa}}

<br /> {{Ethnic groups in Iran}} {{Georgian diaspora}} {{Portal bar|Georgia (country)|Iran}}

[[Category:Ethnic groups in Iran|Georgians]] [[Category:Iranian people of Georgian descent| ]] [[Category:Georgia (country)–Iran relations]]