აჭარლები, Ačarlebi | |
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Regions with significant populations | |
Georgia (mainly Adjara), Turkey | |
Languages | |
Adjaran dialect of Georgian language, Turkish language (minority)[1] | |
Religion | |
Sunni Islam Georgian Orthodox Church[2] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Gurians, Lazs, Imerkhevians and other Georgians |
Part of a series on |
Georgians ქართველები |
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Nation |
Georgia |
Ancient Kartvelian people |
Subgroups |
Culture |
Languages |
Religion |
Symbols |
History of Georgia |
The Adjarians (Georgian: აჭარლები, romanized: ach'arlebi)[a], also known as Muslim Georgians,[b][4] are an ethnographic group of Georgians indigenous to Adjara in southwestern Georgia. Adjarian settlements are also found in the Georgian provinces of Guria, Kvemo Kartli, and Kakheti, as well as in several areas of neighbouring Turkey.
Adjarians converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of Adjara. Under the 1921 Treaty of Kars, Adjara was granted autonomy, to protect its Muslim faith. Despite their conversion to Islam, Adjarians have kept the Georgian language (with their own dialect) and traditions.[5] Still, their self-identification is ambiguous as their Islamic background is at odds with the Orthodox faith of their Georgian peers.[4] In the 1926 census, Adjarians were categorised as a distinct ethnic group. In the 1939 census, they were included in the same category as Georgians.[6] Since Georgian independence, most Adjarians consider themselves Georgians,[7][2] but some Georgians have seen Muslim Adjarians as second-class "Turkicized" Georgians.[8][9][6][10][11]
Indeed, the Turkish language has not disappeared from remote rural or mountainous areas of Adjaria, where the elders still speak it fluently.
Nodia2006
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Among ethnic Georgians, nationalist narratives dating back to the Soviet period highlight fears that minority groups could lay claims over Georgian territory. These fears were substantiated and entrenched by the traumatic experiences of the 1990s. A more fundamentalist narrative portrays minorities as guests or second-class citizens on Georgian territory, which should be subordinated to "true" Georgian national identity (Kartveloba). Against this backdrop, some minorities have perceived integration efforts as assimilation threats to their legitimate ethnic identities.
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