Adjara-Georgian crisis and Türkiye’s attitude 2004
Authors:   Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty,  History Department, Osmaniye - Türkiye, Candeğer Ümmügülsüm , Kaya Mustafa Kemal ,   Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Graduate School of Education, History Department, Osmaniye - Türkiye
Published: December 2024

Due to its difficult geographical conditions and the intermingling of different religious/ethnic structures, the Caucasus has experienced major political and military events in many periods of history, and the political landscape in the region has changed rapidly. Although states such as the Transcaucasian Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and the North Caucasus Republic were established in the vacuum of authority created by the collapse of Tsarist Russia in World War I and the Bolsheviks coming to power, these states did not last long. With the Bolsheviks gaining power, these states came to an end. After nearly 70 years of Soviet Socialist rule, Georgia declared its independence. However, since it did not have a homogeneous population structure, it had to struggle with internal political problems and separatist structures. Since its establishment, the Republic of Georgia has struggled with the problems of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Adjara.
Adjara is an autonomous region within the borders of Georgia. The center of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara is Batumi. Batumi is an important and strategic city with its geopolitical position, port, underground, and surface resources. The fact that the Georgian State is Orthodox Christian and the local population living in the Adjara region is predominantly Muslim has been effective in causing problems between the Adjara autonomous region and Georgia from time to time.
The starting point of the Adjara problem was the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the 93 War (1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War), which resulted in an intense Muslim migration from the Caucasus and the Balkans to the Ottoman Empire. With the defeat of Russia in World War I, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the vacuum of authority in the region and regained the lands it had lost in the Caucasus. The Ottoman Empire recaptured Batumi on April 15, 1918, but on December 19, 1918, Batumi was occupied by the British. After the Turkish War of Independence, the borders were redrawn with the Treaty of Kars between the newly established Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on October 13, 1921, and it was agreed that Batumi would remain in Georgia. Since Adjara, in which Batumi is located, is an autonomous region for which Turkey is a guarantor under the Treaty of Kars and is located just beyond Turkey's Northeastern borders, close relations have been developed between Turkey and this region. Therefore, Turkey has had to take a close interest in the political crises or other incidents that the autonomous region of Adjara has experienced with Georgia. Of course, the most important reason for this is that we are both border neighbors and the Muslim people living in the region are under the guarantee of Turkey.
In this study, both a literature review was conducted and news about the Adjara crisis was scanned from newspaper articles. The statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, which is an archival document on the subject, were also used as first-hand sources in the study. In this way, the study is qualitative research based on survey and document analysis methods. In this study, the starting point and the outcome of the Adjara-Georgian conflict that started in 2004 and Turkey's position in the solution of the problem were tried to be revealed.