# Adjarians

The Adjarians (Georgian: აჭარლები, romanized: ach'arlebi), also known as Muslim Georgians, 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. Still, their self-identification is ambiguous as their Islamic background is at odds with the Orthodox faith of their Georgian peers. 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. Since Georgian independence, most Adjarians consider themselves Georgians, but some Georgians have seen Muslim Adjarians as second-class "Turkicized" Georgians.

## History

Adjarians, like other sub-ethnical groups of Georgians, have historically followed Christianity. Although the Ottoman millet system allowed its subjects extensive self-governance and religious freedom, many Adjarians chose to convert to Islam during the 200 years of Ottoman presence in the 16th and 17th centuries. The nobility converted first. Adjarians were fully Islamized by the end of the eighteenth century.
During the 1853–1856 Crimean War and the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, many Adjarians fought on the side of the Turks. The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin. Russian authorities initially promoted emigration and many Adjarians moved to the Ottoman Empire. However, Russian authorities then tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas. As a result, many muhacir came back to Adjara.
Adjara became part of the independent Georgian Democratic Republic in 1918. However, in April 1918, the Ottoman Empire invaded Georgia and captured Batumi. On 4 June 1918, the Treaty of Batum was signed, under which Georgia was forced to cede Adjara to the Ottoman Empire. However, due to the Ottoman defeat in the First World War and the Treaty of Mudros, the Ottomans soon withdrew from the territory, and Adjara fell under the temporary occupation of Great Britain. During this time, under the leadership of prominent Adjarian activist Memed Abashidze, the Congress of the Representatives of Muslim Georgians was held on 31 August 1919. It passed a resolution supporting reunification with Georgia and elected Majlis of Georgian Muslims, which represented Muslim Georgians in relation to the British administration.
The British administration ceded Adjara to the Democratic Republic of Georgia on July 20, 1920. It was granted autonomy under the Georgian constitution adopted in February 1921 when the Red Army invaded Georgia. Achara joined the territory of Soviet Georgia under the 1921 Treaty of Kars, between the Ottoman Empire and the USSR. The treaty required that Achara would have "administrative autonomy and the right to develop its own culture, its own religion, and its own agrarian regime". However, the Soviet atheist ideology dampened religious practice in the region, thus diminishing the Adjarian legitimation for autonomy within the Soviet system. In the 1920s, the Achars rebelled against the Soviet anti-Islamic activities and collectivization reforms. The armed uprising began in the mountainous regions of Adjara in April 1929. Soviet troops were deployed in response and swiftly quelled the revolt.
The Georgian population of Adjara had been generally known as Muslim Georgians until the 1926 Soviet census listed them as Adjarians, separate from the rest of Georgians, counting 71,426 of them. In subsequent censuses (1939–1989), they were listed with other Georgians, as no official Soviet census asked about religion.
There was a resurgence of the Adjarian religious identity during the dissolution of the USSR. Islamic religious practice became the cultural norm, madrassas reopened and the call to prayer sounded from mosques. Local leader Aslan Abashidze leveraged the ongoing Islamic revival to advance his political goals. After the Georgian independence, the first Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia appointed Abashidze as the chairman of Ajaria's parliament in 1991. Taking advantage of the turmoil caused by the Georgian Civil War, War in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he unilaterally took power without formal agreement and started to withhold tax revenue and capture Adjara's considerable wealth. The Head Mufti of Achara, Haji Mahmud Kamashidze, supported Abashidze in his power struggle. However, after Abashidze reached his goals, he stopped using the Muslim movement for his political goals. The 2004 Adjara crisis led to Aslan Abashidze stepping down from his post after thousands of Adjarians protested against his rule in Batumi in May 2004, with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili symbolically proclaiming "Abashidze has fled, Adjara is free".
Ajarians, like Ossetians and Abkhazians benefit from a special regime to claim Russian citizenship, with an expedited application process perceived as Russian interference by Georgia.

## Religion

In the sixteenth century, the majority of Adjara's population was Christian. By the end of the eighteenth century, all Adjarians were Muslim. After Adjara was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin, Adjarians, who were Muslims, were allowed to leave for Turkey. This was followed by an influx of Christians from Kakheti, resulting in a change of the religious landscape.
While the Russian authorities supported the Russian Orthodox Church's missionary efforts, they also tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas and supporting the local Muslim clergy. As a result, some Adjarians emigrants, called Muhacir, came back to Adjara.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgian independence first led to an Islamic revival. Christianization of some Adjarians also took place, especially among the young, under the government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia. However, most Adjarians, particularly around Khulo, remain Sunni Muslim. According to Ghia Nodia, as of 2006, many Adjarians are Muslims but consider themselves ethnic Georgians.
According to the 2014 census, Muslims make up 94.6% of the population in Khulo Municipality, 74.4% in Shuakhevi Municipality, 62.1% in Keda Municipality and 56.3% in Khelvachauri Municipality. In Batumi and Kobuleti Municipality Muslims make up a minority with 25.4% and 28.8%.

## Language

Adjarians speak Adjarian, a Georgian dialect related to the one spoken in the neighboring northern province of Guria, but with a number of Turkish loanwords. Adjarian also possesses many features in common with the Zan languages (Mingrelian and Laz), which are sisters to Georgian and are included in the Kartvelian language group.