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ISLAM IN ABKHAZIA-The Muslims survived the Muhajiroba (the Georgian inquisition): Prior to the mid-eighteenth century,Christianity co-existed in Abkhazia with Islam and local pagan beliefs. With the establishment of Ottoman rule, however, the Georgians attempted to weaken Muslim position in the region, and they accordingly set about demolishing Abkhazia’s mosques and.60 Islam became more widespread as a result, at least until the muhajiroba of the 1860s when Muslims were driven out of Abkhazia into Turkey by Russian imperial authorities.

61
Despite the muhajiroba, observers at the time observed few signs of tension between the
religious communities in Abkhazia. Christian missionaries reported that most Muslim Abkhaz
practiced Islamic rites and observed Islamic celebrations, including fasting during the month of Ramadan and the celebration of the qurban. They would also invite mullahs to preside over burial ceremonies. But most embraced various Christian traditions as well, including the celebration of Christmas and Easter and commemoration of the holy days of the Virgin Mary and Saint George.

According to reports by the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the
Caucasus, efforts to propagate Islam in Abkhazia increased in the late nineteenth century.62 At the time, however, many Muslims were also converting to Christianity. According to data gath21 ered by the Society, between 1866 and 1902 a total of 21,336 Muslim Abkhaz became Christian.

Moreover, the missionaries complained that marriages between Christians and Muslims were common, even more so in Abkhazia than in other parts of the Caucasus. As a result, they argued that the most salient cleavage for the Abkhaz was social status, not religion.63 There was also little evidence during the Soviet period of religiosity among the Abkhaz.

As Nestor Lakoba, the Communist Party first secretary of the autonomous republic of Abkhazia in the 1920s and 1930s, remarked, “Religion for the Abkhazian is meaningless. The Abkhaz by his nature and historically is an atheist and nonbeliever.”64
The ongoing struggle over sovereignty between the Abkhaz and Tbilisi make it impossible
to study the religious situation in the region today. In the last few years, ties to Muslim
communities in the North Caucasus, as well as the return of the descendants of the muhajirs from Turkey, appear to have led to a modest increase in the role of Islam among the Abkhaz.

THE MUSLIM AZERIS OF GEORGIA
Azeris constitute the largest Muslim community in Georgia. According to the census of 1989, there were 303,600 Azeris in the republic, or some 5.7 percent of the total population.65 The number appears to have declined significantly in the period since, however. An estimate from 2003 concluded that there might be fewer than 280,000 Azeris in Georgia today, in large part because of emigration. They are concentrated in the region of Lower Kartli, where approximately 244,000 reside (including some 18,000 in Tbilisi), as well as in the eastern region of Kakhetia, which has some 33,600 Azeri residents. The remainder are scattered around other parts of the country.
The first “Azeris” (in fact, Turkic-speaking Muslims) to arrive in Georgia were nomadic
22

Turkish tribes (eli) that began settling in the region in the eleventh century. A second wave came in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when another group of nomadic Turks (Iuruqs) established themselves in southern Georgia. At the same time, so-called Qizilbash tribes moved into the eastern part of the country.66 During the early modern period, these nomads became settled and underwent a process of adaptation to state service. By the nineteenth century, most were peasants living in villages, but some had become merchants and craftsmen in urban areas.

The Muslim population of Tbilisi in the nineteenth century was substantial. According to
the census of 1897, there were 189,024 Muslims in the province of Tbilisi.67 The community was also ethnically quite diverse, consisting of Persians, Turkic speakers (referred to later as Azeris), Dagestanis, and Volga Tatars, among others. Of these, the most numerous were Persians, followed by Azeris. Both were Shiites, whereas the other Muslims in Tbilisi were Sunnis. Relations between the two communities were tense.68 They had different mosques and different places in the Muslim cemetery, and they avoided contact with each other.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Russian imperial authorities tried to win the confidence of Georgia’s Muslims, including the “Tatars,” which led them to cultivate relations with the Muslim clergy in particular. An Islamic seminary for the preparation of mullahs was opened in Tbilisi with state support.69 By the time Soviet authority was established in Georgia, there were 59 mosques serving Georgia’s Azeri community, with some 500 mullahs conducting religious services in one district alone (Borchalo district, populated mostly by Azeris). By then, muridism70 had become widespread among Georgia’s Azeris, due to the influence of North Caucasian Islam. There were also numerous madrasas serving the Azeri community, although these provided only a rudimentary education—at the beginning of the Soviet era, 96.3 percent of Azeris in Georgia were illiterate.71

High birthrates led to a rapid increase in the size of the Azeri population in Georgia
throughout the Soviet period—between 1959 and 1989, for example, Georgia’s Azeri population doubled. The population has since diminished, however, mostly due to emigration. Non-official estimates are that as many as 50,000 Azeris have left, permanently or temporarily, due to eco23 nomic difficulties and social conditions. Nevertheless, Azeri birthrates are still high. Districts with large Azeri populations—Gardabani, Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Akhalkalaki, and Bogdanovka—have the highest birthrates in the country, and Azeri villagers there have particularly large families.

Marriages between Azeris and other nationalities are extremely rare.72
In the late Gorbachev and early post-Soviet periods, Georgia’s Azeris became politically
active. An Azeri organization, Kairat, was established, which demanded greater autonomy for Azeri-majority regions. It soon lost its mobilizing potential, however, and today there is little evidence of Azeri nationalist or separatist sentiments. In general, Azeris show what might be called “indirect loyalty” to the Georgian state—that is, their attitude toward the national state depends mostly on the relationship between their “national homeland” (Azerbaijan) and their country of residence (Georgia).73

In Tbilisi, the 18,000-member Azeri community is split almost evenly between Shiites
and Sunnis. Unlike during the nineteenth century, however, today relations between the two communities are good, as suggested by the fact that there is a single Friday mosque serving both.

Until the early 1950s, the Tbilisi mosque served Sunnis only, but the city’s only Shiite mosque (known as the Blue Mosque), which dated from the 16th century, was destroyed by the Communists in 1951. As a result, Sunnis and Shiites were forced to share the same mosque, and the arrangement appears to have strengthened ties between the two communities. 74

There are mosques in other cities of eastern Georgia as well, including Mskhaldidi,
Dmanisi, Bolnisi, and Marneuli. The Marneuli mosque, which opened a few years ago, is now the biggest in Georgia. In Mskhaldidi, a mosque built in 1985 was soon closed and transformed into a warehouse, but it was reestablished in early 1990 and has been open for worship ever since.75 There are also informal mosques in almost every Azeri village, even small ones, often in ordinary houses where prayers may be led by local believers.

These so-called wandering mullahs perform religious rituals (in mosques as well as private homes), write magic formulas, prepare talismans, and so on (all of which is forbidden by orthodox Islam).
24
Many Azeri villages are also home to holy shrines and pilgrimage sites, and the worship
of saints (or holy persons) is widespread. One such place of pilgrimage is the tomb of the Sufi “saint” Isa Efendi, a native of Dagestan who died in the 1930s. The site, which is located in the village of Kabal, is visited not only by Sunni Azeris, but also Muslim Kists from Pankisi (see below) and by Shiite Azeris.

There is a particularly interesting intermixing of Sunni and Shiite practices and religious
consciousness among Azeris in the Lagodekhi region of eastern Georgia. Azeri villages in the region, which include Kabal, Karadzhala, Gandzhala, and Uzuntala, have around 10,000 inhabitants.

While the population of Kabal is Sunni, the others have Shiite majorities. The latter consider it their duty to perform religious ceremonies according to the Shafi’i madzhab (school of law): praying five times a day, the celebration of Qurban Bairam, the mevlud, performing the zikr (the Sufi ecstatic dance), and funeral ceremonies.76 Sufi muridism is also prevalent. The Sunni villagers of Kabal, as well as some Kists (Azeris in the region have frequent contact with PankisiKists as well as with Azeris across the border in Azerbaijan), are followers of the Sufi saint Isa Efendi, and they make frequent pilgrimages to his tomb, particularly when giving a vow of some sort or when praying for the recovery of the sick. While at the shrine, believers pray, make charitable contributions, and ask the sacred soul of Isa Efendi for help. In the Shiite majority villages of Karadzhala, Gandzhala, and Uzuntala, believers practice many of the standard rituals of Shiism, including the celebration of Ashura. But they also perform the zikr and make pilgrimages
to the Sufi Isa Efendi’s tomb. Only in villages where there are no Sunnis is it rare to see
Shiites engaging Sunni rituals.

In general, however, the religiosity of the Georgia’s Azeris is modest—few strictly follow
all Islamic rituals. Attending a mosque and having a mullah lead prayer is connected mostly with burial rites. For many Azeris, it is imperative that burials be performed according to religious strictures, which often include performance of the zikr. In part, low religiosity can be explained by the demands of prayer rituals. Many consider themselves believers, but they lack the time to pray regularly and dutifully. In 1990, field research in Azeri villages indicated that only thirteen
25
percent of men and nine percent of women prayed five times a day.77 Observing Ramadan is more common—about twenty percent of Azeris fast during the month. And virtually all celebrate Bairam, with many using the occasion to visit the tombs of relatives. Some participate also participate regularly in collective prayers, including in houses where a mullah is invited to read from the Koran. Most practice the ritual of sacrifice (qurban).78
Islam has considerable influence over the national consciousness of Georgia’s Azeris,
many of whom equate religion with nationality. Thus one-third of those questioned in the 1990 field research considered Islam to be their nationality (“my nationality is Muslim”).79 Similarly, for many the Koran is part of their national culture, and reverence of the Koran and memorization of its chapters (sura) is an expression of faith to national tradition.

GEORGIA’S AVARS
Avars are native to Dagestan, where most continue to live today, but there is also a small population in eastern Georgia in the Kvareli district. An initial migration of Avars into Georgia took place in the second half of the nineteenth century, while a second occurred in the late 1950s.

Most live in villages, and they maintain close contact with Avar villagers in Dagestan as well as with Avars in the Belakani and Zakatali districts of Azerbaijan.80 Secondary schools in Avar villages in Georgia teach mostly in Russian, and as a result, most Avars do not speak or read
Georgian.

Avars are Sunnis of the Shafi’i madzhab. They practice the zikr and mevlud; make frequent pilgrimages to holy sites (most sites are in Dagestan); observe nikah (mahar in Avar, or receipt of an official document of marriage signed by a mullah); and perform qurban. Avars also have a particularly powerful cult of saints. Religiosity is quite high among older Avars—some seventy to eighty percent, by our estimation, pray five times a day and fast for the full thirty days of Ramadan.

Avar villages typically contain unregistered mosques as well as cemetery chapels. In
recent years, Avar mullahs have become more politically active in Avar communities. However, 26 as is typical of Northern Caucasus muridism, non-clerical elders are typically the most authoritative figures in village life, in particular in their role as adjudicators of private disputes.

THE MUSLIM KISTS OF PANKISI
Georgia’s Kists (or Vainakhs) live mostly in and around the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia’s northeast. According to official data, there are 12,000 in Georgia currently, although non-official figures put the number at no more than 8,000. Of these, some 6,000 live in Pankisi. Unemployment and difficult economic conditions induced many younger Kists to immigrate to Russia during the 1970s and 1980s, but in the past decade the number of residents in the region has at least doubled due to an influx of refugees from Chechnya. Currently there are six Kist villages in Pankisi: Duisi, Dzibakhevi, Jokolo, Shua Khalatsani, Omalo, and Birkiani (the latter was at one time populated by Christian Georgians known as Tush). The first village to be settled was Duisi, which was originally named Pankisi (Pengiz in the Vainakh language), from which the region took its name. As is the case with Chechens and Ingush to the north, clans (teipy) are an important line of cleavage and identity for Kists. Nevertheless, the Pankisi Kists are currently divided loosely into two communities, which correspond with membership in one of two Sufi brotherhoods.
Each community is present in each village, and each community is led by a separate
elder. There is no evidence of tension between the two communities.

The Kists are descendants of Chechens and Ingush (who call themselves collectively
“Vainakhs”) who migrated to the region from the north beginning in the 1830s.81 One reason for the migration was economic hardship; another was a desire to escape the consequences of blood feuds. In addition, the leader of the highlanders in the North Caucasus War, Imam Shamil, strictly enforced Islamic law in areas under his control, which some Chechens and Ingush found oppressive. As a result, they fled to the south. Finally, some arrived from the neighboring Georgian district of Tianeti, where they had settled in the early nineteenth century.82 They moved to 27 Pankisi because of a decision by tsarist authorities to concentrate all of Georgia’s Kists in a single area. Villages formed quickly, and new village settlements were established as late as
1860. Other families moved into the area thereafter, but not in large enough numbers to justify new settlements.

After arriving in Georgia, most Kists quickly began acculturating, as suggested by the
fact that many have added Georgian endings to their family names (e.g., “shvili,” which means “son of” or “daughter of” in Georgian). Examples include Qavtarashvili (of Qavtar), Musashvili (of Musa), and Bakhashvili (of Bakha).83

Most of the original migrants were pagan, although there were also Christian elements in
their practices. Since the early Middle Ages, Georgian Christian missionaries had been disseminating both Christianity and Georgian culture among the Vainakhs, and Christian faith helps explain the close ties between Vainakhs and Georgians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

84 Moreover, during the reign of Catherine the Great, Russian imperial authorities began
promoting the Christianization of the highlanders in the North Caucasus, using both financial incentives and political privileges to encourage conversion.85
Once in Georgia, the Kists were again pressured by state authorities to embrace Christianity —indeed to the point of coerced conversion in some instances. As a result, by 1866 most the villagers of Jokolo and Omalo had been Christianized. According to data from the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus, between 1864 and 1910 there were numerous baptisms of Kists.86 As a result, Islamic faith was less prevalent in Pankisi than among Chechens and Ingush in the North Caucasus.
Nevertheless, in 1902 local Muslims began to construct a mosque in the village of Duisi,
using their own money to finance the project. The Russian imperial government refused, however, to register the mosque because of concerns about the political implications if recently converted Christian Kists returned to Islam. The mosque was closed after the October Revolution, and it would not be reopened until 1960. Still, Islamic faith strengthened among the Kists in the Soviet period, in part because of the successful proselytizing of “wandering” mullahs.
28
Thus, while considerable numbers of Kists became Christian over the years, most of
those who did later reconverted to Islam. Even so, until around 1970 a considerable number of villagers in Jokolo, Omalo, and Birkiani were Christian. A Christian chapel was built in Omalo in the 1960s.87 In the 1970s, many Christians in Jokolo and Omalo were Islamicized. Only Birkiani has a majority Christian population today. There is also a small community of Kists in Kakheti (a region of Georgia bordering on the Gorge), mainly in the city of Telavi.

They consider themselves Georgian and Orthodox Christian.88 Like Chechens and Ingush, the religious practices of Kists are very eclectic. As one authority has observed: “The Ingush were Christians in the past. After the weakening of Christianity in the region, they revived their pagan religion and later adopted Islam, then once again Christianity, and at the end, Islam again, while at the same time preserving pagan and Christian traditions—they eat pork, celebrate holy Sundays, respect Christian churches.”89 The same was
true of the Chechens. As we have seen, many Chechens had been Christians (kheristanash) before embracing Islam in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and they incorporated not only pagan but also Christian traditions into their Islamic practices.90

Among Kists, as with Chechens and Ingush, the Nakshbandiya and Qadiriya Sufi brotherhoods (tariqats) are particularly well established. The Nakshbandiya tariqat, which originated in Bukhara under the inspiration of Sheikh Baha ud-din Nakshbandi (d. 1389), became widespread in the North Caucasus during the North Caucasus War in the nineteenth century. It did not arrive in Pankisi, however, until in 1909, when the above-mentioned Isa Efendi, who was a preacher from Azerbaijan, settled in the region. Isa Efendi was an adept (pir) of the Nakshbandiya order, and he managed to convince many locals to join the tariqat. As noted earlier, his tomb is located in the Azeri village of Kabal in eastern Georgia. Despite the fact that he was Azeri, and despite the fact that his tomb is in an Azeri-majority region, his burial site is a particularly holy shrine for the Kists.

The introduction of Qadiriya teachings to Pankisi came considerably earlier through the
efforts of a shepherd, Kunt Hajji, who came from the village of Iliskhan in the Gudermes district 29 of Chechnya. In certain regions of Pankisi, Qadiriya doctrine has taken Kunt Hajji’s name.

Shamil, however, opposed Kunt Hajji’s teaching practices and forbade Qadiriya ritual dances like the zikr, which led Kunt Hajji to move to Pankisi.91 In 1927, another Sufi adept, Machig Mamaligashvili, who had spent several years in Ingushetia, helped spread the Qadiriya teachings of Kunt Hajji in Pankisi. The Duisi village mosque is currently controlled by followers of Kunt Hajji and the Qadiriya tariqat. The Nakshbandiya in the village gather every Friday (women during the first half of the day, men in the evenings) in a room where Isa Efendi lived until 1920.

Like other highlanders of the North Caucasus, the religious practices of the Kists are
enriched by pagan beliefs. Nakshbandiya and Qadiriya practices in Pankisi are, therefore, quite different from those of the Nakshbandiya and Qadiriya elsewhere. In addition, Sharia (Islamic law) in the region is intermixed with highlander customary law (adat), and if anything the latter tends to prevail over the former.92 As a result, the practices and beliefs of Kists who belong to the two tariqats do not differ significantly. Members of both, for example, arrange rosaries in the shape of the number 99, a symbol of the divine names of Allah (the hundredth name of Allah is not known to anyone). In addition, while most Kists consider themselves to be Muslim, at least until recently many were largely indifferent to many Islamic teachings. Most would eat pork, drink alcohol, sacrifice animals near the ruins of Christian churches, give their children Christian names, marry Christians, and so on.

The religiosity of the Kists appears to have grown considerably in recent years, 30
As with most Georgians, Christian and Muslim alike, religion has as much a national as a
strictly spiritual meaning for many Kists. Those who are Christian tend to identify as Georgians (although they maintain their consciousness as Kists); those who are Muslim tend to identify as Vainakh, even where Georgian is their home language and the language of instruction in local secondary schools. Muslim Kists also tend to maintain closer contacts with their relatives in Chechnya and Ingushetia than do Christian Kists.

There has been a large influx of refugees from the Chechen conflict into Pankisi. Pankisi was home to a Vainakh population, and the refugees assumed they would find
shelter among their ethnic kin. But Chechen resistance fighters as well as non-Chechen fighters from different Muslim countries have also used the region for training and as a base from which to carry out operations against Russian federal forces. The region also fell under the influence of criminal clans—as in Chechnya, drug trafficking and kidnapping became key sources of income.

Georgian internal military forces had neither the equipment nor the training to restore central writ in the region.

As a result, Pankisi has become the source of acute tensions between Russia and Georgia
over the past several years. The Russian military wanted to enter Georgian territory to destroy the resistance fighters and their training camps, a move that was viewed in Tbilisi as a striking violation of Georgian sovereignty. The US government wished to see the Pankisi crisis resolved peacefully, and as a result Washington financed a “Train and Equip Program” for Georgian counter-terrorism forces. These counter-terrorism forces eventually carried out what appears to have been a largely successful operation to restore order in the region. Many kidnapped individuals were freed, some criminals were seized, and the region is apparently no longer be used by Chechen rebels.

CONCLUSION
There is no tradition of religious tolerance in Georgia that is the result of country’s
particular history and experiences. Government officials in Tbilisi nevertheless worry that
31 outside influences, particularly Christist Crusader ideology and the ongoing conflict in Chechnya, will lead to the politicization of Islam in the country, which could in turn further destabilize Georgia politically and even precipitate new rounds of internal violence. Fortunately, the government appears to be aware that a heavy-handed approach towards Georgia’s Muslim minority would be entirely counterproductive. It is accordingly trying to preserve inter-confessional amity in the country.
32

NOTES
1 In an effort to strengthen the Georgian national consciousness, the last part of the slogan was omitted after Ajaria was transferred to Russian imperial sovereignty and became part of Georgia in 1878. As discussed below, most Ajarians were Muslim.
2 The practice of labeling virtually any form of politicized or radical Islam as “Wahhabi” goes back to the
Soviet period. The term is eschewed by most radical or militant Muslims themselves.
3 The supplement of a person’s name in the Islamic world, which indicates his origins or the place of his
activities, and sometimes the profession of his ancestors.
4 This is an Arabic pronunciation of the city’s name. It was the way the city’s name entered into the Russian language (Tiflis), and from there into West European languages. Tiflis was thus used as the official name of city until the beginning of the twentieth century when the traditional Georgian “Tbilisi”
was re-appropriated.

5 G. Japaridze, “The Emirate of Tbilisi,” Islam. Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1999),73.

6 Joseph P. De Tournefort, The Voyage in Oriental Countries, translation into Georgian by M.Mgaloblishvili (Tbilisi, 1988), 64.
7 G. Japaridze, “Introduction,” Islam. Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1999), 6.

8 See Mark Saroyan, Minorities, Mullahs, and Modernity: Reshaping Community in the Former Soviet Union, ed. Edward W. Walker (Berkeley, CA: International and Area Studies, UC Berkeley, 1997).
9 National’nyi sostav naselniia SSSR: Perepis’ naseleniia (Goskomstat SSR, Moscow, 1989).
10 On the ethnic structure of the population of Georgia, see V. Jaoshvili, The Population of Georgia (in
Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1996).
11 A. Frenkel, Essays on Churuk-Su and Batumi (in Russian), (Tiflis, 1879), 62.
12 Z. Chichinadze, History of the Georgian Muslims from former Ottoman’s Georgia (in Georgian),
(Batumi, 1911), 165.
13 Z. Chichinadze, Muslim Georgians and their Villages in Georgia (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1913), 13.
14 Interestingly, when Georgia became independent after the collapse of the USSR, the opposite occurred.
In coastal regions Christianity quickly pushed aside Islam, but in mountainous areas of Ajaria Islam
revived.
15 V. Iashvili, Ajaria Under the Ottomans (in Georgian), (Batumi, 1948), 138.
16 I. Datunashvili, “Religious Factors of the Creation of the Muhajir Movement in Caucasus,” in History
of the Near East Countries. New and Newest Period (in Georgian), ed. O. Gigineishvili, (Tbilisi, 1989),
14.
17 See Sh. Megrelidze, About the Past of Ajaria (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1964), 15–18.
18 A. H. Abashidze, “Ajaria” in History Diplomacy, International Law (Moscow, 1998), 105.
19 Porto-franco (duty-free trade) in Batumi had been cancelled in 1886 under the order of the Russian
emperor.
33
20 A. H. Abashidze, op. cit., 107.
21 During the muhajiroba, some Muslim Abkhaz moved to Ajaria, which as noted earlier was then part of
the Ottoman Empire. Among them were approximately 300 families who settled near Batumi. Of these,
146 chose to remain after Ajaria’s incorporation into Russia (Sichinava, op. cit., 87). By 1989, when the
last Soviet census was conducted, 1,636 Abkhaz (0.4% of the region’s population) still lived in Ajaria.
Most of those who remained, however, left after the Abkhaz conflict broke out in 1992.
22 These figures are quoted in V. Sichinava, From the History of Batumi (in Georgian), (Batumi, 1958),
110.
23 On emigration from Ajaria to Turkey, see I. Datunashvili, op. cit.; and I. Baramidze, “Muhajirism and
the Problems Connected with Political Processes in South-West Georgia: Causes and Historical Aspects,”
in Cultural and Historical-Ethnological Researches in Georgia, vol. I (in Georgian), (Batumi, 1996).
24 M. Svanidze, Georgians in Turkey (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1996), 16.
25 P. A. Andrews, Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1989), 89.
26 Ts. Batsashi, “About the Question of the Settlement of Georgians in Turkey” in History of the Near
East Countries: New and Newest Period (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1989), 19.
27 Z. Chichinadze, Muslim Georgians and their Villages in Georgia, 21.
28 Acts 9 (in Russian), (Tiflis, 1884), 126.
29 Z. Chichinadze, op. cit., 309.
30 A. H. Abashidze, op. cit., 242.
31 Ibid.
32 The “Jewish” autonomous area established in what had been Birobidzhan was an autonomous oblast,
not an autonomous republic. Moreover, Soviet ethnographers claimed that the Jews were a separate
ethno-linguistic community because many spoke Yiddish. The Muslims of Ajaria were Georgian speakers.
33 See A. H. Abashidze, op. cit., 265. See Article I of the Kars Treaty between Turkey and Russia (3/16/
1921) and Article VI of the Kars Friendship Treaty between Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and Georgian
SSR (10/13/1921).
34 Archive of the State Committee of Ajaria, Fond I, Descr. 3, File 89, 5.
35 Ibid., 10.
36 The muftiate, however, continued a semi-legal existence, and it has reemerged into the open in the
post-Soviet period to become the region’s official Administration of the Religious Affairs of Muslims.
37 Ibid., Descr. 1, File 1256, 80. See also E. Meiring Mikadze, “L’islam en Adjarie: trajectoire historique
et implications contemporaines,” in Cahiers d’etudes sur la Mediteranee orientale et le monde turcoiranien
27 (January-June 1999).
38 As Memed Abashidze put it, “… our identity is Georgian. We want to reestablish our national unity
with Georgia. But we remain Muslims.” (Abashidze, M. Autobiography [in Georgian], [Tbilisi, 1931].)
39 Among the Muslim population of Georgia, Turkish forms of Islamic terms are widespread. We therefore
prefer to use mostly Turkish instead of classical Arabic terms.
34
40 Takhaishvili, E. Muslim Georgia (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1991), 46.
41 Bakradze, D. Archaeological Travel in Guria and Ajaria (in Georgian), (Batumi, 1987), 72.
42 See J. Vashalomidze, “Images of Plants in Ajarian Folk Ornaments,” in Everyday Life and Culture in
Southwest Georgia, vol. 4 (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1976).
43 While conducting field research in Ajaria in 2003, Sanikidze spoke with the mullah of a newly built
mosque in a mountain village. The mullah showed him a place in the mountains where an aperture in the
shape of a cross (hardly a traditional Islamic symbol) had been formed in the rock. The mullah then
explained that the cross resulted from a landslide some years ago, and he proudly noted that the rock was
situated between the villages of Diakvnisi (which means “village of the vicar”) and the village of Jvari
(which means “cross”). Thus, both names, as well as the symbol, had Christian origins.
44 For a description of the activities of Diyanet, see E. Meiering Mikadze, op. cit., 41–42.
45 On the Meskhetian population in early modern times, see Essays in the History of Georgia, vol. 4 (in
Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1973); M. Svanidze, Essays on the Georgian-Ottoman Relations (in Georgian),
(Tbilisi, 1990); Idem., From the History of Relations between Georgia and Ottoman Empire in 16th–17th c.
(in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1971).
46 B. Vakhushti, Description of the Georgian Kingdom (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1973), 660–661, 672.
47 V. Lortkipanidze, Samtskhe-Javakhetia, Problems of Demographical Development in the 19th–20th c. (in
Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1994), 23.
48 First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire of 1897, vols. 5, 19, The Province of
Tiflis (in Russian), (St. Petersburg, 1905), 77–80.
49 Catholic missionaries succeeded in converting some of the Meskhetian Georgian population in the
early modern period.
50 The difficulty of establishing religious affiliation and ethnicity is suggested by the fact that the records
of the Statistical Committee of Tbilisi province on local populations have only a question mark across
from Akhaltiskhe mazra (mazra is the Georgian word for a region or district in the Russian Empire). See
also B. Totadze, Demographical Portrait of Georgia (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1993), 163.
51 S. Makalatia, Meskhetia-Javakhetia (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1938), 67.
52 M. Gnolidze-Swanson, “Activity of the Russian Orthodox Church among the Muslim Natives of
Caucasus in Imperial Russia,” Caucasus and Central Asia Newsletter 4 (Summer 2003): 13.
53 R. Gachechiladze, The New Georgia: Space, Society, Politics (London, 1995), 92.
54 P. Karam, Allah apres Lenin. La revanche de l’Islam dans L’Ex-empire russe (Paris, 1996), 254.
55 See for example: N. Gelashvili, “Muslim Meskhetians – Painful Problem Remains Unsolved” (in
Georgian) 7 dre (May 9–13, 1993).
56 Meskhetian Turks, Solutions and Human Security (New York: The Open Society Institute, 1998), 43–
45.
57 “Ethnic-Confessional Groups and Challenges to Civic Integration in Georgia, Azeri, Javakheti Armenian
and Muslim Meskhetian Communities,” ed. G. Nodia (Tbilisi: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy,
and Development, 2002) 54–55.
58 By different estimation their number varies from 90,000 to 300,000. See R. Gachechiladze, op. cit.
35
59 About Iranian Georgians see Z. Sharashenidze, “Gurjs of Feridun” (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1979); G.
Chipashvili, Georgians of Feridun (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1990); Idem., Georgian Population of Iran (in
Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1990); G. Gotsiridze, Marriage among Georgians of Feridun (Tbilisi, 1987).
60 See Essays on History of Abkhazian ASSR, vol. 1, ed. G. A. Dzidzaria (in Russian), (Sokhumi, 1960),
118–119.
61 See G. A. Dzidzaria, Muhajirisme and Problems of History of Abkhazia of 19th Century (in Russian),
(Sokhumi, 1975).
62 About the activities of this Society see M. Gnolidze-Swanson, op. cit., 9–20 ; and A. Jersild,
Orientalism and Empire: North Caucasus Mountain Peoples and the Georgian Frontier, 1845–1917
(Montreal, 2003). Jersild stresses that Russians, Georgians, and many others emphasized the foreign,
non-indigenous, and therefore illegitimate character of Islam (in the Northern Caucasus). The provocative
notion of “restoration” was part of the name of the missionary society founded in 1860. (42)
63 A. Platonov, Survey of Activity of the Society for Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus,
1860–1910 (Tiflis, 1910), 170–174. Quoted in M. Gnolidze-Swanson, op. cit., 13.
64 Quoted in A. Krilov, “Traditional Institutes of Abkhazes: Past and Present” in Identity and Conflict in
Post-Soviet Countries (in Russian), (Moscow, 1997), 194.
65 V. Jaoshvili, op. cit., 293.
66 About the settlement of nomads of Turkish origin in Georgia, see V. Gabashvili, Feudal System of
Georgia in 16th–17th Centuries (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1967).
67 See R. Suleimanov, Vestiges of the Islamic Religion in Georgia (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1973), 39.
68 I. Anchabadze and N. Volkova, Ancient Tbilisi: City and Citizens in 19th Century (in Russian), (Moscow,
1990), 248.
69 At the same time, however, the Turks were wooing Turkic-speaking peoples in Georgia by propagating
pan-Turkish and pan-Islamic ideas. A pan-Islamic party, Mudafie, was created in 1907 in Tbilisi. (Documents
about Russian Politics in Transcaucasia, vol. I [in Russian], [Baku, 1920], 54–55.)
70 A variety of Sufism, which originated in northern Azerbaijan and spread from there to the North
Caucasus. The distinguishing elements of Muridism are asceticism, self-sacrifice, and a strict hierarchy in
relations between a master or adept (murshid) and his disciple (murid). A militarized form of muridism
served as the ideological basis of the immamat established by Shamil (1841–1859) in the North Caucasus
during the long struggle against Russian imperial forces.
71 Central Archive of Georgia, Fund 14, Descr. 1, File 2884, 24.
72 For example, by 1989 the natural increase among the Georgians was 7.6 percent, while for Azeris it
was 22.8 percent.
73 Op.cit., 11.
74 The reason the mosque was destroyed was apparently official opposition to the Shiite practice of selfflagellation
during Ashura. The practice continued nevertheless, and today Muslims in Georgia still mark
Ashura with ritual flagellation, which they call Shahsei-vahsei and over which a mullah from Baku
presides.
75 It must be noted that after September 11, 2001, the Georgian government ordered the suspension of the
construction of 11 mosques under the suspicion that some of them might have been financed by foreign
36
fundamentalist organizations.
76 There are four main legal branches of Sunni Islam: Shafi’i (which is traditionally more accepting of
Sufism), Hanafi’i, Hanbali’i, and Maliki’i.
77 G. Sanikidze, Islam and the Muslims in Georgia Nowadays (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1999), 40.
78 Whereas mevlud is the most important ritual for Ajarians, for Azeris it is qurban. In Ajaria, moreover,
the meat of the sacrificed animal is normally shared with neighbors (in conformity with Sharia requirements, which state that meat be distributed among neighbors, orphans and the poor). Among Azeris, however, there is no such practice of sharing. Sacrifice is offered both as a substitute for the pilgrimage to
Mecca and during family events to attract Allah’s attention.
79 Ibid.
80 It must be noted that the Zakatali district of Azerabijan is partially settled by Muslim Georgians—
Ingilos.
81 “Vainakh” is the common name for Chechens and Ingush.
82 L. Margoshvili, “About the Question of the Emigration of Kists on the Territory of Georgia,” in Georgian-
North Caucasian Relations (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1978), 121.
83 Margoshvili, L., op. cit., 61.
84 Sh. Kurtsikidze and V. Chikovani, “Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge: An Ethnographic Survey” (Berkeley
Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Working Paper Series, Spring 2002), 26.
85 P. Butkov, Materials for the New History of Caucasus, vol. I (in Russian), (1869), 267–273
86 Survey of Activity of the Society for Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus, 1860–1910
(Tiflis, 1910), 85.
87 L. Margoshvili, Customs of the Pankisi Kists and Modernity (in Georgian), (Tbilisi, 1985), 45.
88 See N. Von Twickel, “Die Kisten—georgische Patrioten” in Mitteilungsblatt der Berliner Georgischen
Geselchaft, vol. 1 (1997), 56.
89 S. Bronevski, Newest Geographical and Historical Notices about Caucasia, vol. 2 (in Russian),
(Moscow, 1824), 43.
90 U. Laudaev, “Chechen Tribe,” in Collection of Notices about Caucasian Highlanders (in Russian),
(Tiflis, 1872), 27.
91 For Vainakhs of Northern Caucasus, the term dziarat means reverence of a sacred place, and dzikar,
execution of religious ritual. Among the Pankisi Kists, the term dzikar means singing, and dziarat,
execution of religious ritual. (L. Margoshvili, op. cit., 214.)
92 The importance of adat is suggested by the fact that there are cases where Kists who had served our
their prison sentences returned to their homes only to be put on trial again and punished in accordance
with adat.
93 Sh. Kurtsikidze and V. Chikovani, op. cit., 26.
37
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External Web sites
This topic is discussed at the following external Web sites.

CIA – The World Factbook – Georgia
Flag of Georgia
Image and description of the flag belonging to the Transcaucasian nation.
Georgia Revealed
Virtual exploration of the former Soviet republic. Includes expert field research into the roots of its fight for independence and its current bid at recapturing the tourism industry. Contains several eye-catching features that contain detailed expedition maps of the region, team diaries and field reports, historical timelines, audio clips, and picturesque slide shows.
Lonely Planet – Georgia
Travel guide to this country of Transcaucasia. Provides an overview of its history, economy, culture, environment, and major attractions. Also highlights local activities and events, and contains a regional map.
Energy Information Administration – Caucasus Region
United Nations Development Programme – Georgia
Parliament of Georgia
Embassy of Georgia to the USA, Canada and Mexico
U.S. Department of State: Georgia
BBC News: Georgia
Library of Congress – Georgia – Selected Internet Resources
Library of Congress Country Study: Georgia
The Official site of the New Georgia Encyclopedia
CIA – The World Factbook – Georgia
How Stuff Works – Geography – Georgia
Citations
MLA Style:

“Georgia.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Aug. 2008 .

APA Style:

Georgia. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/230186/Georgia

REferences: G. Sanikidze, E. Walker. Islam and Islamic Practices in Georgia