Country: Georgia

Group: Azerbaijani

Date Finalized: 09/20/2021

Team: Nichole Dahlen (lead), Alicia Hernandez, Omer Carrillo, Analisa Jimenez, Elizabeth Ardila

Content Warning: forced relocation

Approximate Time Period: 1940-1960, 1983-1989

Academically reliable sources indicate that in Georgia, the Azeris have experienced forced displacement.  The data quality ranking is a 3 because there is clear, sufficient evidence from reputable sources. The Azeris are the largest minority group in Georgia. They largely live in rural areas in the Southeast region of Kvemo Kartli (Minority Rights Group, 2018). The group has a long history of being forced away from the region, dating back to the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (Sophie, 2009). The exact number of Azeris deported under Stalin’s rule is unknown. Stalin targeted the Azeris as a part of a larger deportation of 90,000-120,000 people belonging to Muslim ethnic groups such as the Turks, Kurds, Armenians, and Meskhetians (Sophie, 2009). Approximately forty years later, in the years leading up to and following Georgian independence (1989-1993), Georgian nationalist sentiment was rampant. As a result, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a man known for slogans like “Georgia for Georgians” who promised to “save Georgia from absorption by other nationalities” became president (Berglund, 2019). During this time, Georgian nationalist groups, encouraged by the rhetoric of the president, burned Azerian houses and forced them to relocate to other Georgian villages (Kahkraman, 2020). In some locations, the Azeri were successfully able to defend themselves and their property. However, in areas such as Bolnisi, the Azeri failed to protect themselves from forced relocation (Berglund, 2019). In total, more than 10,000 Azeri families left Georgia during this time (Kahkraman, 2020).  The Georgian government did not directly force the Azeris away, but failed to protect the citizens from nationalist violence, encouraged by Gamsakhurdia’s rhetoric. Today, because Georgian identity is closely tied to Georgian Orthodox Christianity, ethnic Georgians do not consider the Azeris fully Georgian (Kahkraman, 2020).

Sources

  1. Berglund, C. (2019). Accepting alien rule? State-building nationalism in Georgia’s Azeri borderland. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(2), 263–285. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/ 10.1080/09668136.2019.1679091
  2. Kahkraman, A. (2020). Azeris and Muslim Ajarians in Georgia: The swing between toleration and alienation. Nationalities Papers, 49(2), 308-325. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2020.7
  3. Minority Rights Group International. (2018, September). Azeris. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/azeris/
  4. Sophie, T. (2009, February 25). The deportation of Muslims from Georgia. Sciences Po portal. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/deportation-muslims-georgia.html.