Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti are ethnic

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

of Georgian nationality living in the Samtskhe–Javakheti region of the Republic of Georgia. The southern part of the region ( Javakheti) borders

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

to the south. Here, ethnic Armenians form the great majority of the population with minorities of Georgians,

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and Caucasus Greeks. Among Armenians of Samtskhe–Javakheti, Armenian is the common language spoken.

History

The region known to Armenians as Javakhk has long been tied to the Kingdom of Armenia with an Armenian presence there being recorded for millennia. Many of the Armenians in the region today immigrated from Erzurum Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire after the area became part of Russia in 1829 while most of the Muslims (

Meskhetian Turk Meskhetian Turks, also referred to as Turkish Meskhetians, Ahiska Turks, and Turkish Ahiskans, ( ka, მესხეთის თურქები ''Meskhetis turk'ebi'') are an ethnic subgroup of Turks formerly inhabiting the Meskheti regio ...

s and Adjarians) in the region emigrated to the Ottoman Empire. More Armenians came to region later on as a result of Turkish massacres and the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

driven policy aimed to settle the Christian Armenians at the border of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

, since they were enjoying the status of a reliable ally in contrast to the Muslim population. Ethnic Armenians are chiefly concentrated in

Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr; hy, Ախալքալաք / Նոր-Քաղաք, translit=Axalk’alak’ / Nor-K’aġak’) is a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Akh ...

and

Ninotsminda Ninotsminda ( Georgian: ნინოწმინდა ; Armenian: Նինոծմինդա) is a town and a center of the eponymous municipality located in Georgia's southern district of Samtskhe-Javakheti. According to the 2014 census the town ...

districts. At the beginning of 1918 in Akhalkalaki region had 120,000 population, from which

were 89,000 (74%), Meskhetian Turks were 8,000 (7%), representatives of other nationalities 23,000 (19%) During this period in Ahalkalak district there were 111 villages from which 66 were Armenian, 24 Turkish, 9 Russian, 10 Georgian (including former Armenian villages Vargav and Hzabavra, the population of which had assimilated with Georgians), and one village with the Armenian-Georgian mixed population. In 1944 the government of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

exiled the

ish population of Meskheti (approximately 100,000 person) to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

(

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

). The five villages of Sagamo, Khavet, Erindja, Davnia, and Karsep in the Akhalkalaki district and the Bogdanovka areas were settled by Armenians. During Zviad Gamsakhurdia's presidency (1991), Javakheti remained ''de facto'' semi-independent and only in November 1991 the Tbilisi-appointed governor was able to take power. The issue of Javakheti was in the 1990s "clearly been perceived as the most dangerous potential ethnic conflict in Georgia", however, no actual armed conflict ever occurred. An incident took place in Akhalkalaki district on 14 August 1998. The Georgian military units were to hold exercises with the Russians in Akhalkalaki, and the local Armenian population was not told about it. The Georgians units entered the Armenian-populated areas and met some 25 Armenians, who "believed that the Georgian army was coming to deport Armenians from their homes". The group of Armenians were armed and allegedly had mortars and other artillery. The Georgian units eventually left, avoiding a possible clash with the armed men. According to the Georgian national security ministry was the incident was a provocation organized by the Javakhk organization. Vahagn Chakhalyan, the leader of United Javakhk, was arrested in 2008. Chakhalyan was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in 2009 for "acquisition and possession of firearms and ammunition, organizing a group action which grossly disrupted public order, hooliganism committed against a government representative." Chakhalyan was released from prison in January 2013 under amnesty law after Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgia Dream coalition came to power in Georgia.

Demographics

This table is a comparing table of Armenian population of Samtskhe–Javakheti in 1939, 1989, 2002, 2014.

Politics

Tensions in Samtskhe–Javakheti have run high at times. One reason is based in the official Georgian language policy that does, officially, not allow the

Armenian language Armenian (Classical Armenian orthography, classical: , Armenian orthography reform, reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia ...

to be used in public or administrative offices, even if citizen and officer speak better Armenian than Georgian. International monitoring missions on the situation of national minorities in Georgia have critically commented in this aspect as recently as 2009. The ethnic Armenian United Javakhk Democratic Alliance calls on a local autonomy for Javakheti within Georgia. Some Armenian political groupings of

and the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

, among them most notably the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) claim that

Javakhk Javakheti ( ka, ჯავახეთი ) or Javakhk ( hy, Ջավախք, ''Javakhk'') is a historical province in southern Georgia, corresponding to the modern municipalities of Akhalkalaki, Aspindza (partly), Ninotsminda, and partly to the Tur ...

(Armenian name for Javakheti) should belong to Armenia, United Armenia shall include all territories designated as Armenia by the Treaty of Sèvres as well as the regions of Artsakh ( Nagorno-Karabakh), Javakhk (Armenian name for Javakheti), and Nakhchivan. However, Javakhk (Javakheti) is not officially claimed by the government of Armenia. A small number of Turkish Meskhetians returned to Georgia in recent years. With little employment opportunities in the region, the re-migration caused tensions with the local Armenian population. In consequence, the Georgian authorities preferred to settle returning Turkish Meskhetians in other areas in the country. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline which passed through the region, has met opposition from local Armenians, as well as the planned Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway as it isolates Armenia.

Notable people

Jivani Jivani ( hy, Ջիվանի, 1846–1909), born Serob Stepani Levonian ( hy, Սերոբ Ստեփանի Լևոնյան; also known as Serovbe Stepani Benkoyan, hy, Սերովբե Ստեփանի Բենկոյան), was an Armenian ''ashugh'' (ba ...

(1846–1909), ''gusan'' (bard) and poet, born in Kartsakh village * Stepan Malkhasyants (1857–1947), academician, philologist, linguist, and lexicographer, born in Akhaltsikhe *

Hovhannes Katchaznouni Hovhannes Kajaznuni or Katchaznouni (; 14 February 1868 – 15 January 1938) was an Armenian architect and politician who served as the first Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia from June 6, 1918 to August 7, 1919. He was a member of ...

(1868–1938), the first Prime Minister of Armenia from 1918 to 1919, born in Akhaltsikhe * Derenik Demirchian (1877–1956), writer, born in

* Ruben Ter-Minasian (1882–1951), Defense Minister of Armenia in 1920, born in Akhalkalaki * Hakob Kojoyan (1883–1959), prominent painter born in

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region ('' mkhare'') of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is situated on both banks of a small river Potskhovi (a l ...

* Vahan Terian (1885–1920), prominent poet, born in Gandza village * Gregorio Pietro Agagianian (1895–1971), Armenian Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal, papal candidate * Gurgen Dalibaltayan (b. 1926), military commander, Colonel-General, born in

Karapet Chobanyan Karapet Chobanyan ( hy, Կարապետ Չոբանյան; born 25 February 1927 in Karzakh, Akhalkalaki, Georgia and died on 15 October 1978) was an Armenian scientist and engineer who discovered the phenomenon of Low-Stress in mechanics and develo ...

(1927–1978), scientist born in

Karzakh hy, Կարծախ , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Village , image_skyline = Monument to Jivani in Kartsakh 02.jpg , image_caption = Monument to Jivani in Kartsakhi , imagesize = , ...

village * Lusine Zakaryan (1937–1991), soprano, born in Akhaltsikhe * Harutyun Khachatryan (b. 1955), film director, founder of the Yerevan International Film Festival born in Akhalkalaki * Levon Khechoyan (1955-2014), writer, born in Baraleti village * Vagharshak Harutiunyan (b. 1956), Armenian Defence Minister from 1999 to 2000 born in

References

Sources

* *

External links

Javakhkh.com portal

Javakhk.net portalArarat Center's section: Javakhk: News, Facts and Analyses
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armenians In Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenian diaspora in Georgia (country) People from Samtskhe–Javakheti