Adjarians

ALTERNATE NAMES: Adzharians; Ajarians, Acharans
LOCATION: Adjaria (within Georgia)
POPULATION: 376,016 (2002)
LANGUAGE: Gurian dialect in mountains, standard Georgian in cities
RELIGION: Mixed Sunni Muslim and Orthodox Christian

INTRODUCTION

The Adjarians (also called Adzharians or Acharans) are seldom mentioned outside of their native land. Adjarians are like Georgians in almost every respect except that a proportion of them are Muslim. By itself this situation does not cause tension and conflict, but it is important to realize that violent conflicts between communities (such as those in Bosnia-Herzegovina, or Northern Ireland) are rarely religious but almost always political.

In 1989-90, Georgia was among the first republics of the former Soviet Union where the local communist government effectively surrendered its power under the pressure of popular discontent. The political vacuum that followed was filled by a motley group that included self-serving opposition intellectuals, cunning black market entrepreneurs, and even self-professed honorable bandits. These new leaders had little in common except personal ambition and a strong belief in the cultural supremacy of the Georgian nation. They possessed no economic or state-building program at all. Instead, the new anti-communist leaders adopted nationalistic rhetoric and policies in an effort to gain popular support from common Georgians and to silence potential opponents. The aggressive nationalism of the new Georgian rulers soon led to rebellions in the peripheral parts of Georgia that had sizable non-Georgian ethnic minorities.

Adjaria was an autonomous province of Georgia where the sudden triumph of the new Georgian nationalists was met with grave suspicion. Although most Adjarians considered themselves Georgians, they also knew that many Georgians considered Adjarians "Turks" or at least second-class "Turkicized" Georgians because of their difference in religion. Georgians have been Christian since Byzantine times, at least since the 5th century. The ancestors of Adjarians were once Christian too, but in the 17th century the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered Adjaria and many people converted to Islam, the religion of the new Turkish authorities. Adjaria remained under Turkish rule until 1878, when it was wrestled from the Turks by the Russian Empire. By that time Adjarians had been Muslim for some 10 to 15 generations and viewed themselves as a separate ethnic group with its own traditions derived from Islam.

After the Russian revolution of 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union, and Georgia became one of its 15 constituent union republics. In recognition of its religious and cultural uniqueness, Adjaria was granted limited autonomy within the Soviet republic of Georgia. Many Georgians who saw themselves as national patriots scoffed at Adjarian autonomy as a "foreign creation," arguing that Adjarians were Georgians just like everyone else. The Adjarians' Islamic heritage was deemed an unfortunate accident of history that had to be redressed by making Adjarians once again Christian. While the Soviet Union existed, these Georgian nationalist projects were kept in check by the communist belief in internationalism, or what Soviet propaganda called "friendship among the nations." In 1990-91, however, abolishing Adjarian autonomy became one of the slogans proffered by the new post-communist government of Georgia. It appointed its own surrogate government in Adjaria, which was as disorderly as the one in Georgia proper. Virtually no one in the new government was a native Adjarian. This fact brought a huge crowd of worried and angry Adjarians into the main square of Batumi, the provincial capital. The demonstrators, both Muslim and Christian, were afraid that the new government would remove Adjarian autonomy.

The problems were not limited to religion, however. Adjarians today are a modern and quite secular people, many of whom consider themselves agnostic. As in any ethnic conflict, the crux of the problem was one of political power. The Adjarians wanted greater powers of self-determination than the new Georgian government would give them. Adjarians wanted to be treated with the same respect as other Georgians, including the right to retain their recognizably Muslim-Georgian names. The recognized organizer behind the Adjarian movement was Aslan Abashidze, who during the 1990s established a separate mini-state in Adjaria. Locally stationed Russian troops gave him support. At the same time, he proved an able diplomat, assuaging fears among some Georgians that Adjaria might secede. After 1990, Abashidze ruled his small country like a virtual potentate, recognizing Georgia's authority over Adjaria only on paper. Adjarians credit him for two achievements: a well-armed peace amidst ethnic strife and civil war that engulfed most of the Caucasus in the 1990s and the cultivation of diversity and tolerance inside Adjaria. Compared with the tragic situations in Caucasia and in the former Yugoslavia, the outcome in Adjaria showed that ethnic conflict was not predetermined by religious and ethnic differences, but that political forces can both create and prevent ethnic conflicts. However, the peace was kept in part by Abashidze's own form of authoritarianism. Elections were rigged and the police suppressed all opposition. Abashidze's rule came to an end in May 2004, when he was overthrown by a domestic popular revolt inspired and supported by the new and youthful Georgian government that had came to power after the November 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

Aslan Abashidze was fond of saying that his land has no useful resources except its geography and the good humor of its people, but geography is strategically important. Adjaria is a tiny land (2,634 sq km/1,150 sq mi) of beautiful mountains and wooded valleys that descend to a thin coastal line of the Black Sea where the capital, Batumi, is situated. More than one-third of Adjaria's 400,000 people live in the capital. The climate along the sea front of Adjaria is one of the most humid in the world. A total of 160 cm (62 in) of precipitation is recorded annually, often destroying houses and crops. Before the 1930s, Batumi was one of the busiest oil-exporting ports in the world, serving as the main outlet for Baku oil from the land-locked Caspian Sea. In fact, at that time, the then-future Saudi Arabia received much of its kerosene from the Caucasus. The Caucasus is where the Swedish brothers Nobel (of the famous prize) developed a booming oil industry and laid one of the earliest pipelines to Batumi. Batumi, until the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008 was a growing oil and container port one again and a major trade hub on the road to Turkey. Adjaria's agriculture was best known for its tea and tangerines, but in recent years production has declined dramatically because export routes to Russia have been disrupted by wars and economic upheavals in post-communist countries.

It is impossible to know exactly how much of Adjaria's population consists of ethnic Adjarians, if by that we mean Muslim Georgians. Such a potentially divisive question has not been asked since the population census of 1926. It is no less difficult to tell how many Adjarians live in neighboring Turkey because Turkish statistics do not recognize ethnic minorities, but presumably there are many Georgian-speakers over the Turkish border. They, however, feel themselves to be both Turks and Adjarians.

LANGUAGE

Adjarians speak the Gurian dialect of the Georgian language (see entry on Georgians ). This dialect is close to the language of medieval classical literature created in western parts of Georgia. Adjarians have no trouble understanding or speaking standard Georgian.

FOLKLORE

Adjarians share the same medieval folklore as other Georgians. They have, however, some local folk tales that display Turkish, Armenian, and especially Laz influences (Lazes are a people of the Georgian language family who are also Muslim and live in North-East Turkey across the Georgian border).

The foremost hero of Adjaria's myths for a while was Aslan Abashidze, a former school principal and, curiously, grandson of the last Muslim ruler of Adjaria, Prince Memed Abashidze. With great admiration and passion, people told fabulous and incredible stories about their leader, whose courage, wit, and diplomatic skills were supposed to be proven by his exploits. His legendary showdown with Georgian nationalist leaders in April 1990 became the pinnacle of his personal legend, when after a meeting with the Georgian nationalists who were about to take over the government of Adjaria, Abashidze emerged from the government building with an AK-47 in hand saying that the meeting had suddenly flared up into a shootout, but that he and his bodyguards had proved better shots. These legends have been discredited after Abashidze fled to Moscow, escaping the wrath of his own people in 2004.

RELIGION

Although Adjarians have been Sunni Muslims for the past four centuries, today religion has lost much of its salience. After 70 years of Soviet-accelerated modernization, only a small number of elderly men can recite sacred Arabic verses from the Koran. Few people attend mosques even on Fridays, and virtually no women veil their faces. However, after the collapse of communism there was a Muslim revival that focused in most cases on the building of village mosques.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

Muslim holidays are observed somewhat, especially the more pleasant ones. Like Lent and Easter in the Christian West, Ramadan is not observed with a month of fasting by many Adjarians, but almost everyone feasts after it is over. Because of Russian influence, which was strong during the Soviet period, Adjarians celebrate New Year's Eve. Many even put up Christmas trees, but nobody attaches any religious significance to this holiday. As in many former Soviet republics, February 23 is still celebrated as Men's Day, and women give small gifts to men. Few people seem to care that this date was meant to commemorate the first battle of the Soviet Red Army in 1918. Likewise, International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 with flowers and chocolates offered to women, but it is no longer associated with the Socialist International movement. People have transformed these state and political holidays into celebrations of the seasons and gender. After independence, a number of Orthodox religious days have been introduced, such as St George's Day, Mariamoba (St Mary's Day), and others.

RITES OF PASSAGE

Muslim Adjarians follow Muslim traditions, although no longer very faithfully. For instance, male circumcision is still common. Like many other Muslims of Caucasia, Adjarians like to invite a special guest for the circumcision ceremonies. The kirva, who must be a Christian neighbor, would traditionally hold the baby boy on his lap during the operation. The special relationship between the Christian kirva and the child is akin to that of godparent and godchild in other cultures. Weddings are another major rite and are as lavish in Adjaria as elsewhere in Georgia and Caucasia.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Like all Caucasians, Adjarians are extremely etiquette conscious. They are infallibly polite and courteous under most circumstances, even when bargaining in the bazaar. Hospitality is supreme. A community values its members by their ability to live up to the norms of etiquette, including the availability of disposable income destined for conspicuous consumption. Like most Caucasians, Adjarians would starve if necessary to offer a feast to their friends and guests. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the Soviet Union's economy was booming, conspicuous consumption in Adjaria reached grotesque proportions. Corrupt local officials and wealthy peasants trading their citrus in the markets of Russian cities built themselves palatial houses, sometimes with ridiculously sumptuous decorations. In the 1970s, a group of Russian decorators who had previously worked in St. Petersburg in the restoration of the palaces of the tsars were lured to Adjaria with an offer of huge salaries. The mansions they helped to build rival Disneyland in both the purported impression and artistic taste.

Many Islamic norms, especially pertaining to relations between men and women, have been relaxed considerably in recent decades. Women in Adjaria dress and behave more like East European women than do women in many Arab countries or in Iran. Veiling is virtually non-existent.

LIVING CONDITIONS

Traditionally, most Adjarians lived in log cabins, which is the type of house most easily acquired, given the wooded mountainous environment. There were also houses made of stone and adobe found mostly near the seashore. In the 20th century, many Adjarians moved into towns, primarily Batumi. In the towns and modern villages, they prefer to live in private houses, sometimes very ostentatious two- and three-storied mansions. Such houses are endowed with all modern amenities, from hot water to air conditioning, and often have two toilets-one in a bathroom inside the house and another brick or wooden toilet in the backyard. As an old Adjarian man said resolutely: "no urban fashion will make me do my necessities inside the house where I live."

Many people who could not afford private homes were glad to receive virtually free apartments in the state-built high-rises. Because of centralized planning, these apartment houses look exactly the same in Adjaria as elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. Old village habits die hard, however, especially in an economy of chronic shortage. Many Adjarians keep chickens, turkeys, and sometimes cattle on the ground floor of their urban dwellings. Cows occasionally roam the streets of Batumi, including its beaches and the downtown area. Private homes are surrounded by fruit orchards of persimmons, figs, quince, tangerines, grapes, and kiwi, the latter of which was added several years ago. As part of the former Soviet Union, Adjaria experienced grave economic difficulties and disruptions after 1990 although since the ouster of Abashidze in 2004 the local economy has boomed as part of a new market-oriented Georgia. Georgia's GDP growth between 2004 and 2008 was in the range of 10-12% and tourism became a major industry in Adjaria. In 2006 the number of tourists in Adjaria increased by 27% compared to that in 2005. The number of new hotels, restaurants, cafes, and entertainment centers is increasing to accommodate the growing demand of tourism. The new international airport (5 km distance from Batumi port) was completed in 2007.

FAMILY LIFE

As elsewhere in the Caucasus, large extended families are no longer common in Adjaria. Nonetheless, the ties of kinship and neighborhood remain very strong. A modern family normally has two parents, one to three children, and grandparents if they are still living. Divorce is relatively rare, although not unknown. Many households are effectively run by women who also do most of the housework. There are no servants because the practice was considered extravagant in the socialist Soviet Union. Almost all private homes have pets-dogs, cats, and sometimes caged birds (canaries, or exotic parakeets). Wealthy people sometimes keep peacocks and pheasants to impress their guests and neighbors.

CLOTHING

Traditionally, Adjarians dressed like Turks or other peoples of the Near East. This dress was completely replaced by modern European-style dress around the middle of the 20th century. Today, Adjarian men prefer Armani suits or tennis shirts and Levi's jeans (all of the brand names), and women try to follow French and Italian fashions in dress and makeup.

FOOD

Adjarian cuisine is largely the same as Georgian. To this, Adjarian have added fish from the Black Sea-mackerel, flounder, and anchovies. Dolphins were hunted for meat in the past but mostly in times of hunger. In recent years, Muslim Adjarians began drinking wines and beer previously prohibited by Islamic law. Tea is the customary local drink.

EDUCATION

Governmental policies of the Soviet Union made high school education mandatory for all citizens including Adjarians. Education was conducted mostly in standard Georgian and in Russian. There are fewer classes in Russian language, as they have been replaced by English classes. At least formally, there are no illiterate Adjarians today. The older Islamic literacy in classical Arabic as well as in old Ottoman Turkish disappeared during the years of Soviet modernization. As in Georgia proper, the per capita number of college-educated people in Adjaria was among the highest in the former USSR. Almost as many women have higher degrees as men.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Little can be described as specifically Adjarian cultural heritage. Most folk traditions (dances and music, for example) overlap with those of the Christian Georgians from the neighboring province of Guria. Islamic traditions are nearly forgotten due to rapid modernization during the Soviet years and hostility from the Georgian authorities. Today, Adjarians differ from other Georgians mostly by their Muslim first names. On several occasions in the past, especially in the 1950s and again in the early 1970s, Georgian officials have tried to change all Muslim names to Georgian Christian ones. For instance, all Memeds were mandated to become Michaels or Mamukas, and Gusseins to become Georges or Ghiorghis (Ghivi for short). A few Adjarians chose to resist, and some even went as far as to protest at Moscow before the highest Soviet authorities. This kind of discrimination and similar attempts at forced "re-Georgianization" and Christianization of Adjarians fed the anxieties that in 1990 led to protests in the streets against the central government.

WORK

Adjarians are still mostly peasants with 55.7% of the population living in rural areas (2002). Because the Soviet Union was an isolated economy, it imported very few subtropical fruits from abroad, such as tangerines. Adjaria was one of very few places in the Soviet Union where the climate allowed the growth of tangerines, kiwis, and other tropical fruits. These crops brought monopolistic prices in the markets of Russian cities in the north and accrued never-before-seen wealth to many Adjarians. The reputed wealth of Adjaria was actually one major motivation behind the attempts of various Georgian paramilitary groups to invade what they called "Islamicized Georgia" in the 1990s. Thus, nationalist fervor was also a screen for the ordinary desire to plunder. After 1990, hardly anything was produced in Adjaria or grown for export. This changed after 2003 with some investments in tea and citrus fruits. Most inhabitants now derive their income from trading across the Turkish border, or from odd jobs.

SPORTS

Traditional sports include wrestling, archery, fencing, javelin throwing, horse riding, tskhenburti (a form of polo), and leloburti (a field game similar to rugby). In Adjaria, as in the rest of Georgia, soccer is quite popular. It is played in streets and yards as well as in stadiums.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

Commercial recreation includes restaurants, cinemas, and pop music concerts. TV and video remain the cheap alternatives to modern mass entertainment, provided that electricity is uninterrupted in the evening. Many Adjarians now have access to cable. Otherwise, most Adjarians will enjoy themselves feasting in each other's homes.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

Adjarian folk art is similar to that of the Georgians. Pottery and rug making are still village crafts. Rugs are either woven in traditional patterns or made from compressed felt with abstract patterns. The colors most often used are deep red, brown, blue, and yellow. Metalworking, particularly with gold and silver, is an ancient skill that is still practiced. Metal chasing, which in Georgian is called cheduroba , is a treasured craft, as are enameling and jewelry making.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Adjaria was effectively a separatist state ruled by a benevolent pasha. Its economy all but collapsed, unemployment was very high, and drug abuse soared. The crime rate was relatively low because, under Aslan Abashidze, one out of ten men served in the Adjarian police. This did not prevent massive corruption. Since 2003, employment has increased with the growth of tourism and foreign activity in the port, but most Adjarians still hover around the poverty line.

GENDER ISSUES

Women in Adjaria face similar problems to those of their Christian Georgian neighbors. Despite formal equality in Soviet Georgia, women suffered wage and job discrimination and were expected to do the majority of the housework and child-care. In many ways, their position has worsened under new market conditions in Achara; female-headed households are more likely to be poor, women are concentrated in the semi-skilled positions and underrepresented in the senior jobs, and access to natal care has diminished while maternal mortality rates increased. Many Adjarian women support their families with cross border trade with Turkey, and a number have ended up as prostitutes in Turkish towns.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Derlugian, G. "The Tale of Two Resorts: Abkhazia and Adjaria Before and Since the Soviet Collapse." Working Paper 6.2. Berkeley: University of California, March 1995.

Hale, William. "Turkey, the Black Sea and Transcaucasia," in Transcaucasian Boundaries, edited by J. Wright, S. Golden-berg, and R. Schofield, London, UCL Press, 1996.

Pelkmans, Mathijs. Defending the Border: Identity, Religion and Modernity in the Republic of Georgia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.

—revised by S. Jones