Georgians in Turkey ( ka, ქართველები თურქეთში, tr) refers to citizens and denizens of Turkey who are, or descend from, ethnic Georgians.

Numbers and distribution

In the census of 1965, those who spoke Georgian as first language were proportionally most numerous in Artvin Province, Artvin (3.7%), Ordu Province, Ordu (0.9%) and Kocaeli Province, Kocaeli (0.8%). Georgians live scattered throughout Turkey, although they are primarily concentrated in two major regions: * The Black Sea coast, in the provinces of Giresun Province, Giresun, Ordu Province, Ordu, Samsun Province, Samsun, Sinop Province, Sinop, Amasya Province, Amasya, and Tokat Province, Tokat. Chveneburi Georgians (particularly in Fatsa, Ünye, Ordu, Terme, and Çarşamba) largely preserve their language and traditions. * Northwestern Turkey, in the provinces of Düzce Province, Düzce, Sakarya Province, Sakarya, Yalova Province, Yalova, Kocaeli Province, Kocaeli, Bursa Province, Bursa, and Balıkesir Province, Balıkesir. Magnarella estimated the number of Georgians in Turkey to have been over 60,000 in 1979.

Imerkhevians

Imerkhevians, Imerkhevians (Shavshetians) are an ethnographic subgroup of Georgians who speak the Georgian dialects#Southwest dialects, Imerkhevian dialect (''imerkheuli'') of the Georgian language, which shares many common features with the neighboring Adjaran dialect, Adjarian.Kevin Tuite, Tuite, Kevin (1998)
''Kartvelian morphosyntax: number agreement and morphosyntactic oritntation in the South Caucasian languages''
p. 178. Lincom Europa. Imerkhevians are the indigenous population of Artvin Province. The majority of the Imerkhevians today live in an area they call Imerkhevi. The population of Imerkhevi is largely composed of ethnic Georgians, who inhabit 14 hamlets around Meydancık, Şavşat, Meydancık (formerly known as Diobani). These settlements have both official Turkish and unofficial Georgian names. Reflecting some internal differentiation persisting in Turkey's Georgian community, the Imerkhevians claim a different origin from the Georgians in the Borçka area, who have adopted an inclusive Adjarians, Adjar identity. The Imerkhevians are Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, closely integrated with the Turkish people, Turkish society. Almost all are bilingual in Georgian language, Georgian and Turkish language, Turkish. Georgians in Turkey experienced assimilation those people today are Lazs and Imerkartvels who mostly live in Artvin.

Chveneburi

Chveneburi (, ), meaning "of us" in Georgian language, Georgian, is an endonym of Georgian-descended Muslim immigrants who had settled in non-Georgian majority regions of Turkey, thus, "of us" signifies a triple distinction from Christianity, Christian Georgians, Muslim Turkish people, Turks, and autochthonous Muslim Georgians from Artvin. As with most Turkish citizens, most Chveneburi subscribe to the Hanafi ''Madhhab, madh'hab'' of Sunni Islam. Chveneburi Georgians had arrived in Turkey in three waves of migration due to pogroms by the Russian Empire, in what is now called the Circassian genocide. The first wave was during and after the 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829), Russo-Turkish War, when the Sublime Porte consigned its sovereignty over several parts of Georgia to the Russian Empire. Minor waves of immigration followed until the end of the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Russo-Turkish War, when the Ottoman Empire allowed Chveneburis to immigrate. This wave of immigration involved at least 500,000 people from historic Georgian regions that had considerable Muslim populations, such as Batumi and Kars. As a result, many Muslim-majority regions of Georgia were left virtually depopulated. The last sizable wave of immigration was in 1921, when Turkey finally gave up its claims on Adjara in the Treaty of Kars with the Soviet Union, Soviet republics. This last wave also involved Turkish language, Turkish-speaking Muslims from Upper Adjara. Adjarians were also known by their places of origin, such as ''Batumlular'' for people from Batumi or ''Çürüksulular'' for people from Kobuleti.

Press

The most important Georgian cultural magazine in Turkey also bears the name ''Çveneburi''. It was founded in 1977 in Stockholm, Sweden by Shalva Tevzadze. It is distributed in Turkey by Ahmet Özkan Melashvili, who also wrote the book ''Gürcüstan'' (Georgia) in 1968. In 1980, Özkan was assassinated in Bursa by the Grey Wolves (organization), Grey Wolves. Since then, Fahrettin Çiloğlu has been in charge of the magazine. Between 1997 and 2006, Osman Nuri Mercan was the editor of the magazine. The magazine's content is almost completely in Turkish language, Turkish, and presents articles on Chveneburi Georgians, the History of Georgia (country), history of Georgia, and Georgians worldwide. Another journal, Pirosmani(journal), Pirosmani, bilingual in Georgian and Turkish, is published in Istanbul, sponsored by the Georgian Catholic Simon Zazadze.

References

Bibliography

* Black Sea: Encyclopedic Dictionary (Özhan Öztürk. Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2. Cilt. Heyamola Publishing. Istanbul. 2005. .) * Paul J. Magnarella, The Peasant Venture: Tradition, Migration, and Change among Georgian Peasants in Turkey. (Schenkman Publishing Company: Cambridge, MA, 1979) * Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007)
Özkan, Ahmet
''Dictionary of Georgian National Biography''.

External links

''Chveneburi''''Pirosmani'' / ფიროსმანი
*Gezgin, Ulas Basar (2004
Republican and Post-Republican Responses to New Georgian Nationalisms (PhD Proposal in Anthropology)
. ''teori.org'' (includes a list of selected publications on the Georgian communities of Turkey) {{Portal bar, Georgia (country), Turkey Turkish people of Georgian descent, Georgian diaspora in Turkey, Georgian diaspora in Europe European diaspora in Turkey Ethnic groups in Turkey Georgians in Turkey Georgian diaspora in Asia