ETHNIC GROUPS IN GEORGIA #10 – ARMENIANS
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Daily Georgian Times
April 14 2008
Georgia
Part 1
Continuing with the series of the wealth of ethnic groups, this week’s
article in Georgia features the Armenians – the second largest ethnic
minority population in Georgia. As with the Azeris (see #7 & 8 in the
series), this article is presented in two parts because of the size
and the long and complex history of the Armenians. Part two follows
next Monday. The materials on the ethnic groups are provided by the
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Institute for
Policy Studies (IPS) and are extrapolated from the book, Georgia –
An Ethno-Political Handbook by Tom Trier & George Tarkhan-Mouravi,
which will be published toward the end of the year.
Population in Georgia: 248,929 in Georgia proper (2002 Census),
about 67,000 in de facto Abkhazia (estimate).
Total Population: 8-10 million.
Location: Compactly settled in Javakheti (Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda
districts (95% of total population), Akhaltsikhe district 16,876
(37%), Kvemo Kartli 31,777 (6.37%); also smaller settlements in Guria,
Kakheti and Shida Kartli.
Significant urban population in Tbilisi (82,586), Batumi (7,517)
and other cities and towns. Kin state: Armenia (3.1 million Armenians).
130,000 Armenians in de facto independent Mountaneous Karabakh.
Other countries Russia (1.1 million), United States (1 million),
France of settlement: (500,000), Iran (400,000), Syria (190,000),
Lebanon (140,000) and numerous other countries.
Who, What, Where
Historically, Armenians have called themselves Torkomian or Haiki
seround, i.e. descendants of Haik, the founder of the Armenian
nation about 2500 BC according to the legend. Today, Armenians call
themselves Hayer (somkhebi in Georgian). Armenians have a long and
rich history on the territories that today form part of Georgia and
they have lived here for centuries. Russo-Persian and Russo-Turkish
wars in the 19th century and up until World War I triggered massive
immigration to Georgia. Their most sizable presence of Armenians
today is in Tbilisi, in Samtskhe-Javakheti and in Abkhazia. Compact
settlements today can also be found in Kvemo Kartli, Ajara, Kakheti,
Shida Kartli and the proportion of urban Armenians in many Georgian
cities and towns is also significant. Armenians in Georgia do not
constitute a very homogeneous group in Georgia and their current
conditions vary considerably from region to region.
A Bit of History
The first substantial group of Armenian settlers moved to Georgia in
the 5th century upon an invitation by King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of
Kartli. The ‘Golden Age’ in the 11th and 12th centuries saw another
wave of Armenian settlers, both from Armenia proper and from Armenian
inhabited regions of modern-day Georgia which came under the control
of the Georgian kingdom, who moved to the north. During the reign of
the Bagrationi dynasty, blood related to the Armenian Bagratids,
particularly during the rule of David IV ‘the Builder’ (reign
1089-1125) and Queen Tamar (reign 1184-1213), Armenia came under
influence of the Georgian Kindom, bringing thousands of Armenians
into Georgia, where they settled in small towns across the country,
such as Telavi, Gori, Dmanisi and others. At this time, the settlers
received certain privileges in terms of tax payments and freedom
from military conscription. Many Armenians would occupy important
positions as merchants, artisans, and moneylenders.
During the following centuries, when Georgia was subjected to
occupation and recurring invasions by Mongols, Turco-Mongols, Persian
and Ottomans in turn, the total population of Georgia, including the
Armenians, significantly diminished. Nonetheless, Armenians grew to
play an increasingly prominent role in the social and particularly
economic life of Georgia.
Descendants of Armenians who settled in Georgia before the 19th
century to a significant extent got integrated into Georgian society,
while retaining their adherence to the Armenian Apostolic Church
– sometimes the main if not the only remaining distinct mark of
identity. Gradually, however, many of these early settled Armenians
also were religiously assimilated, especially in regions such as
Kakheti where they were not concentrated in large numbers. In Tbilisi,
the Armenians were particularly numerous and made up over 70% of the
total population in the beginning of the 19th century.
Russian colonial policies in the first three quarters of the 19th
century strongly encouraged population exchange in the South Caucasus
between the Russian Empire on the one hand and Persia and the Ottoman
Empire on the other. While Muslims emigrated in their hundreds of
thousands from Russian controlled lands, Armenians and other Christian
populations such as Greeks and Assyrians moved from Persia and Turkey
to the Russian Caucasus. Both the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) and the
Treaty of Adrianopole (1829), which concluded the wars respectively
with Persia and the Ottoman Empire, had provisions stipulating the
transfer of Armenians to Russian Caucasus and obliging the governments
of Persia and the Ottoman Empire to facilitate their resettlement. The
Armenian community in Georgia increased and diversified tremendously
with the massive inflow of Armenians to the country that took place
throughout the 19th century, especially following the Russo-Persian
war of 1826-28 and the Russo-Turkish wars of 1828-29 and 1877-78. But
probably the biggest wave of Armenians to Georgia occurred as a result
of the mass killings, now considered by many countries as a genocide,
perpetrated by the Young Turk movement in Anatolia from 1915 to 1923.
During the political turmoil following the collapse of the Russian
Empire and the declaration of independence of both Georgia and Armenia,
a short war was fought between the two countries over Akhalkalaki
and Lori regions; two regions predominantly inhabited by Armenians
but claimed by both sides. The Armenian army advanced into Georgia,
but was repelled backwards and eventually British troops intervened
and stopped the confrontation. During the last days of December,
the British military command brokered a truce and in January 1919 a
treaty was signed to regulate the border dispute. As a result, the
southern part of the Lori region remained under Armenian control,
the northern sector became a neutral zone, while Akhalkalaki region
went to Georgia. Later, in 1921, the neutral zone in Lori became part
of Soviet Armenia.
With the annexation of Georgia into the Soviet Union in 1921 (And
Armenia in 1920), the situation of Armenians in Georgia worsened as
the continuous nationalization of private property stripped Armenians
of their personal wealth. In spite of these conditions, the number
of Armenians in Georgia steadily increased, from 307,018 persons in
1926 to 415,013 in 1939, largely due to a more favourable economic
situation in the republic in comparison with other parts of the USSR,
which made many Armenians move to Georgia. The relative share of
Armenians of the total population in Samtskhe also grew significantly
upon Stalin’s deportation of the Meskhetians (Meskhetian Turks) from
that region in 1944. However, considering some Armenians from the
Black Sea Coast region "politically unreliable elements" in 1944 and
1949, also smaller numbers of Armenians were deported from Abkhazia
and Ajara to Kazakhstan along with larger numbers of Greeks.
With Georgian independence in 1991 the upsurge of nationalism and
the economic crisis that had started already in the 1980’s, many
persons belonging to national minorities began to leave the country
in significant figures. The Armenian emigrated in particularly large
numbers, and their presence in Georgia shrank considerably during
the 1990’s, from 437,211 persons in 1989 to 248,929 in 2002, with
particular declines observed in Tbilisi. From historically being the
largest minority in Georgia, the Armenians are now ranking on the
second place after the Azeris.
In the early 1990’s, the local Armenian Javakh movement in effect
ruled Javakheti, until its power declined in favour of new central
government appointees, brought in with the formation in 1994 of a
new regional structure merging Javakheti with neighbouring Samtskhe
districts and Borjomi district, predominantly inhabited by ethnic
Georgians. When the Armenian president in 1997 emphasised that the
Armenian government would not back attempts to "destabilize the
situation" in Javakheti, the Javakh movement further receded, with
many of its members leaving for Russia. The Javakheti based political
party Virk, established by a former leader of Javakh in 1999, has
attempted to continue the push for greater regional autonomy, but
with few results. Lately, a new movement ‘United Javakh’ has been
established in Akhalkalaki, mainly consisting of Armenian youth, and
also a network of NGOs, the Javakheti Citizens’ Forum, which works
on an agenda to advance regional integration into Georgian state
structures as well as protection of national minority rights. Since
the early 1990’s the political situation in Javakheti has greatly
stabilised – along with the overall stabilization of the country –
and no one any longer speak of Javakheti as a ‘pre-conflict region’.