“That Was When I realized I was
Georgian!”: The Imagined Renationalizing[1]
of Georgians and Republican and Post-Republican Responses to New Georgian
Nationalisms
Ulaş Başar Gezgin
The last twenty years have
witnessed the burgeoning of new nationalisms in Turkey after the partial reform
of the Turkish Republic in order to meet requirements to enter the European
Union. Somewhat related to this is the Post-Soviet reconstruction and the
recent coup d’etat in Georgia.
What is called ‘the
national problem’ in the Soviet political literature had no conceptual
equivalence for the Turkish Republicans of the early 1920s. More recently
however, one of the most interesting examples of the burgeoning politics of
identity in Turkey is the post 90’s awareness of Georgian difference from the
official Turkish culture as exemplified by the publication of the journal
Chveneburi since 1993 after an earlier unsuccessful attempt in 1977. This is
the first magazine of the Georgians of Turkey.[2]
In the late 1970s, there
was a considerable increase in class conflict in Turkey and –both leftist and
rightist- political consciousness was on the rise. Yet no group in Turkey
organized politically around issues of Georgian nationalism, or conducted forms
of social mobilization on that basis. One of the reasons was the military
regime in the late 1970s. People may have been exposed to state or other
violence if they had asserted their Georgian identity. Cultural activities were
confined to secret home gatherings at that time (Olgun, 1994, p.26).
This lack of ethnic
politics, although contextually understandable, is interesting as the country
most populated by Georgians other than Georgia is Turkey (Ciloglu, 1995a, p.4).
The main cultural difference between the Georgians of Turkey and those of
Georgia is religion. The former are mostly Muslim while the latter are mostly
Christian.[3]
The ancestors of the Georgians of Turkey had been converted to Islam after the Ottoman
‘conquest’ of the Western Georgian territories in the early 16th century.[4]
There have been three major waves of Georgian immigration to Turkey, each
of which has contributed to the diversity of the Georgian community living in
Istanbul and its environs:
The first wave was due to the annexation of Georgia by Russia in 1801.
Until that time there was a Catholic Georgian community at Mtsheta.[5]
They immigrated to Istanbul via Batumi, because it was almost impossible to
practice Catholicism under an intolerant Russian Orthodoxy.[6]
The Catholic Georgian Church was established in Elmadag[7] in
1861, after the issue of official permission from Rome.[8]
The church served as a publishing house for Catholic Georgians as well as
Georgian Mensheviks that arrived after the establishment of Georgian Soviet
State in 1921[9]
(Sharadze, 1994, p.6). It is claimed that there were about 10,000 Catholic
Georgian residents in Istanbul until 1955.
The second wave arrived in 1877-1878 as a result of the Great Russo-Ottoman
War known in Ottoman sources as ‘’93 war’ due to the year that the war
corresponds to in the Islamic calendar.[10]
This wave had carried only Muslim Georgians.[11]
Russian domination of Muslim areas would not have allowed them to live in their
homeland as true Muslims.[12]
It is claimed that there are at least 2 million Georgians at Turkey in 1993
(Mercan, 1993b), though some others like Ciloglu (1995a; 1993) claim this is an
exaggerated number.
The third wave was
somewhat different to the other two: It was due to the October Revolution and
there were almost no Muslim Georgians among the immigrants. Thus, the third
wave carried Christian and Jewish Georgians. By 1921, there was nearly 2,000
Jewish Georgians in Istanbul. For the political leaders of the demolished
Georgian Menshevik State, Istanbul provided an opportunity to publish Georgian
books and periodicals in this period.[13]
Most of the immigrants of the last two waves migrated again to Australia,
Canada, Europe and U.S.A. after the 6-7 September Incidents (1955), an
organized and provoked vandalism against Christian and Jewish shops at Beyoglu.
In 1994, there were few Jewish Georgians families and 200 Catholic Georgians in
Istanbul[14]
(Ciloglu, 1994).
For more than a half
century since the establishment of the nationalistic Turkish Republic in 1923,
almost nobody has asserted his/her Georgian identity against the mainstream
Turkish identity.[15]
In contrast to the Kurdish and Armenian cases, there has been no separatist
nationalist movement claiming land from Turkey.
Thus, it would not be a
mistake to propose that there was no Kemalist response to the Georgian
identity, because they were virtually non-existent through the eyes of the
builders of the Turkish nation state and Turkish ‘intellectual’ world until the
last two decades. Nevertheless, there was a general response to ethnic
differences in Turkey during the1920s: These apparently different ethnicities
are indeed Turkish, but their language has evolved separately so as to become
unintelligible (Magnarella, 1979, p.116; 1976).
Not surprisingly, Turkish
nationalism from 1920s and onwards has produced its own narratives in its endeavor
to overcome the legitimacy crisis for nation state building over an obviously
multi-ethnic geography. As a reaction, most of the ethnicities of Turkey later
on produced their own narratives. Georgians were no exception.
At the micro level, which
is of equal interest from an anthropological perspective, there are narratives
of national enlightenment, which constitute a distinct genre. One of the leaders
of the preliminary attempts to construct the Georgian identity in 60s and 70s
–according to some, he was the chief leader of that attempt-, Ahmet Ozkan
Melashvili[16]
was among the founders of the early Chveneburi Magazine. Killed by unidentified
fascists in the terror atmosphere of late ‘70s in Turkey, he had learned the
Georgian alphabet in the 21st year of his life while fulfilling obligatory
military service[17]
from a Georgian who had recently immigrated to Turkey after studying for some
time in Georgia (Chveneburi, 1993, p.4).
A second narrative common
among Georgian young adults in Turkey today is the following: When they were
16-17 years old, their mother said that they had come from Georgia. This is
narrated as an impetus for the adolescents to learn their –let us say-
‘grandmother’ language and visit the old motherland.[18]
A third narrative recounts
the first time a Georgian encounters Chveneburi Magazine. S/he sees the title
of the journal also written in Latin characters and thinks that this ‘chveneburi’[19] may be the word meaning ‘ours’ in his/her
language.
Finally, another narrative
produced in the first volume of Chveneburi points out how detached the old
peasant generation is and how isolated it is in world view. As related by
Mustafa Yakut Himshiashvili, The writer takes a famous Georgian writer to a Georgian
village near Golcuk (Northwestern Turkey). They communicate quite well with
each other despite the nearly half millennium of Ottoman/Turkish domination.
However, a very old man says to the famous Georgian writer “this is our mother
tongue. We had learned it from our mothers. What about you? Where did you learn
Georgian?” The old man did not know that there was a motherland called
‘Georgia’ from which they had migrated (Himshiashvili, 1993, pp. 33-34).
Aytekin (2000) considers
the surge of Georgian identity in Turkey in 1990s as an instantiation of the
general changes in the world policy (pp. 2-3).[20]
According to her, the global conditions of capital are the moving force behind
the politics of ethnicity. Accordingly, she provides an obsolete Marxist account
that considers the emergence of ethnicity a secondary problem vis-à-vis class
struggle, which is an artifact –or let us say an aftermath- of the present
developmental stage of the capital. As a response to Aytekin’s interview with
the three leading Georgian intellectuals of Turkey, the first interviewee
Fahrettin Ciloglu Chilaishvili points out that the most assimilated Caucasian
community in Turkey are the Georgians. According to Mr. Chilaishvili, the
Georgian community had made no request to the Turkish state for education in
Georgian language.[21]
Contrary to Mr.
Chilaishvili’s pessimistic position, the second leading intellectual, Osman
Nuri Mercan thinks that there has been an increase in Georgian identity
consciousness. He infers this from the increase in the number of Georgian
associations and the participation in Georgian cultural activities and the
sales rate of Chveneburi (an alleged reading rate of 4000-6000), the daily
newspaper proposal and proposal for an inauguration of a Georgian University in
Turkey.
In accord with these
comments by the former intellectuals, Iberya Ozkan Melashvili, the son of Ahmet
Ozkan Melashvili and whose name comes from the ancient name of the Eastern
Georgia region, rejects Aytekin’s globalism thesis. According to him, there are
three reasons behind the Georgian revival:[22]
1) Early endeavors by the Georgian intellectuals of Turkey, 2) The opening of
the Hopa border gate, 3) The independence of the Georgian State and
accordingly, the establishment of communication channels between Georgia and
Georgians of Turkey.[23]
In brief, the study
focuses on three issues. The first issue is the development of the ethnic
identity among Georgians of Turkey. The second is the relationship between this
and production of a new national identity in the recently independent Georgian
state. The third is the relationship between this new national identity and
Georgian language as an impetus for the Georgian revival.
According to Anderson
(1993), the orthography of a language is a vital component of the
nationalization project. He claims that printing “laid the bases for national consciousness in three distinct ways”:
Firstly, the readers “gradually became
aware of the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people in their
particular language-field, and at the same time that only those hundreds of
thousands, or millions, so belonged”. Secondly, “print-capitalism gave a new fixity to language, which in the long run
helped to build that image of antiquity so central to the subjective idea of
the nation”. Finally,
“print-capitalism created languages-of-power
of a kind different from the older administrative vernaculars. Certain dialects
inevitably were ‘closer’ to each print-language and dominated their final
forms. Their disadvantaged cousins, still assimilable to the emerging
print-language, lost caste, above all because they were unsuccessful (or only
relatively unsuccessful) in insisting on their own print-form” (Anderson,
1993, pp.44-45).
Anderson’s comments about
the relationship between orthography and national consciousness are particularly
relevant for the case of Georgians since they have a special alphabet used only
by them. A popular Turkish historian and novelist has even contrasted Georgians
with Azeris: He claims that Georgians had higher levels of national
consciousness because they have their own alphabet and have been able to
nationalize their church.[24]
The notion of the
dominance of the standard dialect over others by the standardization of the
language is relevant for Georgian culture of Turkey. The dominant Georgian language
of Turkey is Georgian with an Acara accent,[25]
since most of the Georgian immigrants were from Southwest Georgia (Akin, 1999,
p.3; 1994, p.23).[26]
Based on Anderson’s
comments, another point to focus on is how language and alphabet contribute to
the emergence of national identity for Georgians in Turkey.[27]
The emergence of Chveneburi contributes to the formation of imagined community,
especially in the first and second way pronounced by Anderson (1993).
The Georgian revival in
Turkey is not an isolated matter. Actually, the recent independence of the
Georgian state and the ongoing debates about the new national identity in
Georgia have been influential on the construction and re-construction of
Georgian identity anywhere on the world. Those debates are not specific to the
Georgian state. From Estonia to Turkmenistan, all the states of Post-Soviet
geography have been constructing their respective nation states and national
identities highly influenced by the Soviet era. Besides the common Post-Soviet
problems, the independent Georgian state has been experiencing almost unique
problems due to certain historical facts about the status of the Soviet Georgia
in USSR.
The simple fact that
Stalin was a Georgian[28]
and that he used to identify with a Georgian national hero fighting against
Russian invasion during his adolescence is particularly influential in the
development of Georgian nationalism.[29]
If assimilation is defined
as the percentage of an ethnicity that is fluent in the language of the
assimilator culture, Georgia was one of the least affected among the Soviet
States along with Armenia. The Soviet project was a project of
renationalization. This project was reflected in the slogan for Soviet arts: “national in form, socialist in content”
(Suny, 1988, p.300).
As a Georgian, Stalin had
been commemorated at Tbilisi the week following his death, which had winded up
to police firing at Georgian Stalinist youth (Suny, 1988, pp. 302-303). Those
unofficial demonstrations pro Stalin shows what a special status Georgia has
for the Soviet Union and vice versa.[30]
In Georgia, the demise of the Soviet Union was shocking in one sense, since
Georgia had been the favoured Soviet Republic –prosperous and culturally rewarded.
As with most other republics, the demise of the USSR was the end of the golden
age for Georgian people and the signal for days of economic hardship
accompanied by long hours of power shortage.
Why have nationalisms
exploded in the Post-Soviet geography? The most popular explanation is the
‘ancient hatred’ explanation as exposed by Verdery (1996). According to this
classical explanation, the age-old conflicts of the nations were not resolved
in the Soviet period. They were just suspended. However, Verdery (1996; 1993)
provides another account as well: Contrary to the common view, socialism had
provided national consciousness as well as class-consciousness. Socialism
indeed had aggravated national conflicts that are about to appear on the
surface.
It is necessary to trace
the origins of the emerging Georgian nationalism in Turkey and “the [present] making of the Georgian nation”
as Suny (1988) puts it. There is almost no anthropological and sociological
study investigating Georgians in Turkey.[31]
It is also necessary to
explore whether the notion of ‘nationalism
as a kind of ancestor worship’ (Verdery, 1999, p.41) might provide a good
account of the renationalization of Georgians of Turkey and Georgia proper.
Nationalism is an ideology of extended kinship. In that sense, the introduction
of Georgian surnames is interesting from an anthropological point of view. The
Georgians in Turkey have Turkish official surnames. Besides those, they have
informal Georgian surnames. The latter is not imaginary. The family tells the
individual that s/he is of the family with such and such surname. Thus it is
worth investigating how Georgians in Turkey start to use their Georgian
surnames and in which life areas they use ancestral surnames more frequently.[32]
Another point to discuss
is about the following: The term ‘Georgian diaspora’ has not been widely used.
However, in the 1st forum of Kovelta
Kartvelta Msoplio (All Georgians World Congress) convened in 10-16 October 1994
at Tbilisi, the Georgian participants were from four different continents
(Ciloglu, & Celik, 1994).[33]
This might allow us to explore the relevance of the idea of diaspora to the
present situation.
Selected Bibliography
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Language or the Unbearable Lightness of Extinction]. Chveneburi, 31, 2-7.
__________, 1998, “Megreller ve Lazlar Ozdes mi, Benzer mi?” [Are Megrel
People and Laz People Identical or Similar?]. Chveneburi, 29, 2-3.
__________, 1994, “Turkiye’de Gurcuce’nin Yayilisi ve Durumu” [The Spread
and Situation of Georgian Language in Turkey]. Cheveneburi, 10, 23-24.
Anderson, Benedict, 1993, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin
and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, London, New York.
Andrews, Peter Alford, 1992, Turkiye’de Etnik Gruplar. [Ethnic Groups in
the Republic of Turkey]. Tumzamanlar Yayincilik, Istanbul.
Artvinli, Taner, 2001, “Efsanelere Konu Olmus Bir Gurcu Kizi: Tamara” [A
Legendary Georgian Girl: Tamara]. Chveneburi, 41, 29.
____________, 2000, “Yusufeli’nin Gurcu Koyleri” [Georgian Villages of
Yusufeli]. Chveneburi, 38, 39-40.
Aytekin, Nesrin, 2000, “1990’larda Turkiye’de Gurcu Kimligi’nin Yeniden
Insasi Sureci ve Gurcu ‘Entellektueller’”. [The Process of the Reconstruction
of Georgian Identity at Turkey in 1990s and the Georgian ‘Intellectuals’].
Chveneburi, 38, 2-7.
Berdzenishvili, Nikoloz, Canashia, Simon, & Cavahishvili, Ivane, 2000,
Gurcustan Tarihi. [The History of Georgia]. Sorun Yayinlari, Istanbul.
Celebi, Fevzi, 2001, “Mesele Ne?” [What is the Problem?]. Chveneburi, 42,
2-10.
Chhaidze, Aleksandre, 1996, “Turkiye’den Mektup Var” [A Letter from
Turkey], Chveneburi, 19-21, 21-22.
Chlaidze, Lia, 1995, “Gurculer’in Tarihi” [The History of Georgians].
Chveneburi, 14, 3-4.
Ciloglu, Fahrettin, 1996, “Gurcustan’da Turkolojinin Kurucularindan Sergi
Cikia” [Sergi Cikia Who Is One of the Founders of Turkology in Georgia].
Chveneburi, 19-21, 9-11.
______________, 1995a, “Dunyada Ne Kadar Gurcu Var” [How Many Georgians Are
There on the World]. Chveneburi, 13, 3-5.
______________, 1995b, “Tarihi ve Cografi Bolgeleriyle Gurcustan: Acara”.
[Georgia with its Historical and Geographical Provinces: Acara]. Chveneburi,
13, 16-18.
______________, 1995c, “Recep Jordania ile Soylesi” [An Interview with
Recep Jordania]. Chveneburi, 16, 4-5.
______________, 1994, “Gurculer”. [Georgians]. Chveneburi, 8-9, 28.
Reprinted from Istanbul Ansiklopedisi, [Istanbul Encyclopedia], 26, 23 April 1994.
______________, 1993, Dilden Dine, Edebiyattan Sanata Gurculer’in Tarihi.
[The History of Georgians from Language to Religion, From Literature to Art].
Ant Yayinlari, Istanbul.
Ciloglu, Fahrettin, & Celik, Hasan, 1994, “Tum Gurculer Dunya Kongresi
I. Forumu Yapildi” [1st Forum of All Georgians World Congress Has Been
Gathered]. Chveneburi, 11-12, 5-8.
D’allesio, Eugenio Dallegio, 1921/2003. Istanbul Gurculeri. [Georgians of
Istanbul]. Sinatle, Istanbul.
Halvashi, Pridon, 1996, “Bana mi Ogretiyorlar Acaralilarin Kim Oldugunu?!”
[Are They Teaching Me Who Acara People Are?!]. Chveneburi, 19-21, 3-5.
Himshiashvili, Mustafa Yakut, 1993, “Gurcuce’yi Ner’den Biliyorsun?” [From
Where Do You Know Georgian?]. Chveneburi, 1(8), 33-34.
Ismetzade Doktor Mehmet Arif, 1893/2002, Gurcu Koyleri. [Georgian
Villages]. Sinatle, Istanbul.
Kaya, Muhammed Yunus, 2004, “Gurcustan’daki Muslumanlar’la Ilgilenilmesi
Kimi Rahatsiz Ediyor?” [Whom does a Concern for Muslims of Georgia Disturb?].
Chveneburi, 51, 6.
Kenchkhishvili, Aslan Lacinbala, 1999, “Aliabad’in (Eliseni) Kisa
Tarihcesi” [A Short History of Aliabad (Eliseni)]. Chveneburi, 34, 11-12.
Kiladze, Ramazan Aydin, 1999, “Hani, Orada Bir de “Muslumanlar Var” Dersek?”
[What if We Say “There are Muslims” too?]. Chveneburi, 31, 8-9.
Komahidze, Davit, 1995, “Koyun Maskesi” [The Mask of the Village].
Chveneburi, 16, 17.
Kutaladze, Marine, 1998, “Gurcustan’in Iranli Gurculer’le Iliskileri” [The
Relationship of Georgia with Georgians of Iran]. Chveneburi, 29, 18-23.
Magnarella, Paul J., 1979, The Peasant Venture: Tradition, Migration, and
Change among Georgian Peasants in Turkey. G. K. Hall & Co., Boston, Mass.
_______________, 1976, “The Assimilation of Georgians in Turkey: A Case
Study”.The Muslim World, 66(1), 35-43.
Mercan, Osman Nuri, 1993a, “Simon Zazadze: “Turkiye’de Ilk Modern Tras
Bicagi Fabrikasini Biz Kurduk” [It was Us who Established the First Modern
Razor Factory in Turkey]. Chveneburi, 6, 14-15.
_________________, 1993b, ““Cveneburi” Nasil Bir Dergi Olmali?” [What Kind
of A Magazine Should Cveneburi Be?], Chveneburi, 4-5, 41.
Muchnic, Helen, 1971, Russian Writers: Notes and Essays. Random House, New
York.
Olgun, B., 1994, “Piano Piano Patara Gogo” . Chveneburi, 8-9, 26-27.
Putkaradze, Shushana, 2002, “Istanbul’da Gurcu Kulturel Varligi” [The
Georgian Cultural Presence in Istanbul], Chveneburi, 44, 16-19.
_________________, 1997, “Muhacir Gurculer ya da Chveneburiler” [Immigrant
Georgians or Chveneburis]. Mamuli, 2, 14-18.
Rybak, Andrzej, 1999, “Stalin Boyle Bir Seye Asla Goz Yummazdi” [Stalin
Would not Have Permitted Such an Event]. Chveneburi, 31, 27-28.
Savcin, Ender, 2002, “Iranli Gurculer” [Iranian Georgians]. Chveneburi, 45,
32.
Sharadze, Guram, 1994, “Istanbul Gurcu Kilisesi” [Istanbul Georgian
Church], Chveneburi, 7, 5-7.
Shengelia, Nodar, 1999, “Gurcustan Hakkindaki Osmanli Fermanlari” [Ottoman
Fermans about Georgia]. Chveneburi, 31, 20-22.
______________, 1998, “Selcuklu ve Osmanli Doneminde Gurcustan” [Georgia in
Selcuklu and Ottoman Period]. Chveneburi, 29, 12-17.
Shevardnadze, Eduard, 1994, “Demokratik Bir Gurcustan Icin Elele”
[Solidarity for a Democratik Georgia]. Chveneburi, 11-12, 5-8.
Suny, Ronald Grigor, 1988, The Making of the Georgian Nation. Indiana
University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis.
Surguladze, Abel, 1999, “Turkiye’de Gurcu Okullari Acilmasi Tarihcesi ve M.
Abashidze” [The History of the Opening of Georgian Schools in Turkey and M.
Abashidze]. Chveneburi, 34, 13-15.
Verdery, Katherine, 1999, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies. Columbia
University Press, New York.
_______________, 1996, What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? Princeton
University Press, New Jersey.
_______________, 1993, “Ethnic Relations, Economies of Shortage, and the
Transition in Eastern Europe”. 172-186. In C. M. Hann (ed.), Socialism: Ideals,
ideologies, and local practice. London and New York: Routledge.
Uludag, Mehmet Bulent, 2002, “Acara Ozerk Cumhuriyeti’nde Kulturel ve
Dinsel Etkilesimlere Sosyolojik Bakis” [A Sociological View of the Cultural and
Religious Interactions in Acara Autonomous Republic]. Chveneburi, 45, 2-6.
Yakut, Mustafa, 1996, “Putkaradze: “Istanbul Gurculeri’nin Tarihini
Yaziyorum”” [Putkaradze: I Have Been Writing the History of Georgians of
Istanbul]. Chveneburi, 1996, 12-13.
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[1] By the
term ‘renationalizating’ two phenomena are pointed out: the first is the way
Soviet system created nationalisms and then tried to keep them politically
emasculated, especially in the Stalinist era, while the second is the way
Muslim Georgians of Turkey resituate themselves as nearer to Georgians in terms
of nationality rather than Turks in terms of faith within the last two
decades.
[2] The
first translation from Georgian to Turkish antedates 1977. It was in 1932 by
Ahmet Banoglu who was a student of the famous Turkish historian Mehmed Fuad
Koprulu (Chlaidze, 1995, p.3; Ciloglu, 1993, pp.85-86). After that, there is
only one translation (from the Shakespeare of Georgian Language, Shota
Rustaveli’s “Vepkhistkaosani” [The Knight in the Panther Skin] translated by
Halis Koyuturk in 1948).
[3] Yet the
heritage of Christian culture for Muslim Georgians of Turkey has been kept
alive: In Georgian mosque architecture, cross figures are observed (Ciloglu,
1993, p. 81).
[4] Western
Georgian territories had become the ‘Cildir State’ in Ottoman administrative
system by 1578 (Ciloglu, 1995, p.4; 1993, p.77; Shengelia, 1999, p.21; 1998,
p.15).
[5] Mtsheta
is the ancient capital of Georgia.
[6] Indeed,
there were Christian Georgians residing at Istanbul before the Ottoman conquest
(D’allesio, 1921/2003, p. 29). Shushana Putkaradze claims that there have been
Georgian residents of Istanbul since the 4th century (Yakut, 1996,
p.13).
[7] Elmadag
is a small district of Istanbul once mostly populated by Armenian and other
Christian minorities. Although some Christians still resides there, the
population has radically declined.
[8] There
was a larger Armenian population in Elmadag at that time and some of the
Christian Georgians were immersed in that more established population.
D’allesio (1921/2003) reports that there were some Georgian families that
called themselves Armenian, though they did not deny their Georgian origins.
They had changed their family names accordingly (for example: from
Kartvelishvili to Gurcyan).
[9] The
first president of the Menshevik Georgian State Noe Jordania (1918-1921) had
immigrated to Paris via Istanbul and published some books with the Georgian
Catholic Church Print house such as “Chven da Isini” [We and They] (1923). He
is survived in his son Recep Jordania, who is a professor of marine history in
the U.S. and who has been voluntarily organizing Summer Schools at Tbilisi to
teach English to Georgian children (Ciloglu, 1995c, p. 4).
[10] Some
small Muslim Georgian groups had also migrated to the Ottoman Empire before the
1877-1878 wave (Kenchkhishvili, 1999, p.11; Putkaradze, 1997, p.14).
[11] The
provinces to which Muslim Georgians immigrated were:
Giresun, Ordu,
Samsun, Sinop, Tokat, Amasya, Bolu, Sakarya, Kocaeli and rural areas of Bursa
and Balikesir (Ciloglu, 1995, p.4; 1993, p.80). In 1965, the provinces where
Georgians live and the percentages are as the following:
Artvin (22.4%),
Ordu (14%), Sakarya (13.2%), Bursa (8.5%), Kocaeli (8%), Samsun (6.8%), Giresun
(5.9%), Bolu (4.5%), Amasya (4%), Balikesir (3.7%), Sinop (3.3%), Istanbul
(2.4%), Tokat (1.2%) (Andrews, 1992, p. 246; Chlaidze, 1995, p.4; Ciloglu,
1993, p.96).
Most of
Georgians of Turkey are of the second wave (D’allesio, 1921/2003, p.19).
[12]
Georgian historian Nodar Shengelia (1998) proposes that the Ottoman tax system
was an accelerator for Muslim conversions. In the Ottoman tax system,
Non-Muslims had to pay a huge amount of annual tribute while Muslim Ottoman
citizens were exempted (Shengelia, 1998, p.17).
A special treaty
had been signed between Russian Empire and Ottoman Empire to enhance the
immigration. Based on Georgian sources, Putkaradze (1997) claims that for
Russia it was a strategical action to enforce Muslim Georgians to immigrate. By
this way, the Russian Empire would establish a stronghold at Acara region,
which was the gate to Anatolia. Putkaradze (1997) accordingly warns that a
common mistake is to consider the second wave as a movement due to religious
reasons. She claims that the major reason was the ‘barbaric’ administration of
Russian army. According to her, if the main reason were to be religious, all
Muslim Georgians should have left Georgia, which is not the case.
[13] By the
turn of the 20th century, the Catholic Georgian Church of Istanbul
acted as a national centre for Georgians of all religions. Priests used to
teach the Georgian alphabet to Muslim Georgians (Putkaradze, 2002, p.18). A
Georgian Club was established based on the activities of the church in 1911.
Members included some famous military officers of the Ottoman Empire
(Surguladze, 1999, pp.13-14).
[14] Converging
with this figure, Mercan (1993a) says that there are 30-40 Catholic Georgian
families –most of them residing at Istanbul (p.15).
[15]
According to Magnarella (1976), the main reason behind the success of the
assimilation project aimed at Georgians of Turkey (and others) was the fact
that most Georgians were Muslim, facilitating mixed marriages.
[16] Here is
the announcement for his anniversary printed on Chveneburi, in 1994, 10, p.25:
Ahmet Ozkan
(Melashvili)
(10 June 1922-5
July 1980)
We commemorate
the dear person Ahmet Ozkan Melashvili who contributed to the Chveneburi
Magazine which was published in Stockholm in 1977-1979 (5 issues) and who
published the 6-7. issue at Istanbul, who translated Shota Rustaveli’s romantic
legend Vephistkaosani into Turkish for the first time, who published his book
entitled ‘Georgia’ in 1968, and who translated Alexander Kazbegi’s work
‘Elguca’ into Turkish (‘Elguca ile Mazgo’, 1973).
His name survives in a street
name at Batumi bestowed in 1996 (Chhaidze, 1996, p.22). Ahmet Ozkan Melashvili’s
personal narrative needs to be elaborated extensively since he can be
considered as one of the early Georgian intellectuals in Turkey.
[17]
Military service is obligatory in Turkey.
[18] In one
case, the person (Arzu Elif Akdemir) who knows that she is of Georgian origin,
but has no contact with Georgian culture sees a Georgian movie and fascinated
with the movie, decides to study at Tbilisi (Komahidze, 1995). Such narratives
are not observed in rural settings, since Georgian peasants have been born to a
Georgian-speaking community in contrast to urban Georgians who have been born
to a Turkish-speaking community with no psychological relation to Georgian identity
construction except reports by their parents to the effect that s/he is of
Georgian origin.
[19]
‘Chveneburi’ means ‘ours’ or ‘of us’ in Georgian language. However, this use is
specific to Muslim Georgians of Turkey. Normally, a Georgian from Georgia does
not call his/her in-group as a ‘chveneburi’.
[20] Another
interesting case is the revival of Islamist Georgians in Georgia. Georgian
translations of Islamic classics proliferated in the late 1990s (Kiladze, 1999,
p.9). Chveneburi Magazine has been equidistant to all religions and this is
unacceptable for certain Muslim Georgians of Turkey. Nevertheless, Chveneburi
also publishes their announcements. In the first issue of 2004, Kaya (2004)
invites devout Muslim Georgians of Turkey to Yanyali Mustafa Ismet Efendi
Dergahi Kulliyesi, a religious complex situated at the most devout district of
Istanbul (Fatih-Carsamba).
[21] Let us
keep in mind that the date of this interview was 2000. Nowadays, after the
first broadcasting of Kurdish programs at Turkish state TV, the Georgian
community had made a formal request for broadcasting in Georgian. As a
digression, Mr. Himshiashvili is the first tourist guide to get a professional
guide licence for Georgian language in 1999. This is also another reflection of
the rise of Georgian identity as well as a new era of state responsiveness to
Georgian identity construction.
[22] Ciloglu
(1993) adds that another reason is the increasing number of Georgians of Turkey
going to Georgia for higher education, completing programs, coming back and
translating Georgian literature.
[23] In
Soviet Georgia of the 1950s, Georgians often hid the fact that they had
trans-border relatives, since they were treated as relatives of contra-Soviet
émigrés (Shevardnadze, 1994, p.6). This is another reason for disconnection.
[24]
“Impressions of Georgia”, speech delivered by Demirtas Ceyhun, 15.05.2004,
Istanbul.
[25]
Acaristan lies on the South-Western Georgian territory. It is an autonomous
republic with 400,000 people. Batumi is its capital. The republic was
established in 1921. Most of the Acara people are Muslim. That is why there is
a separate state. It is often claimed that there are no cultural differences
other than religion (Celebi, 2001, p.2; Uludag, 2002). Despite its present
Muslim character, it was the first province of Georgia to accept Christianity
(Ciloglu, 1995b). ‘The Illuminator’ who converted Georgia to Christianity was
St. Nino who had come from Capadocia in the 4th century (Chhaidze,
1996, p.21). She is one of two Georgian national matriarchal figures along with
Queen Tamara (see for instance, Artvinli, 2001 for Tamara) in whose reign
Georgia reached its largest borders.
Nowadays,
Acaristan is closely surveilled due to the separatist Acara movement and
irredentist Georgian claims as seen in the recent coup d’etat in Georgia. The new government changed the Soviet
Georgian flag. The new flag is the ancient flag used since 9th
century. There is a cross on it. This and other events have alienated Muslim
Georgians.
The Ottoman
‘conquest’ of Acaristan is far before the ‘conquest’ of West Georgia (1510)
(Berdzenishvili, Canashia & Cavahishvili, 2000). It was Yavuz Sultan Selim
who had ‘conquer’ed Acaristan in 1479, while he was the governor of Trabzon
(Ciloglu, 1993, p.77).
Today there are
heated debates about the origins of Acara people. Turkish nationalists claim
that they are a Turkic population. The Georgian party does not propose that
other major ethnicities of Georgia, Osets and Abhazs are Georgian. However, it
is claimed that Acara, Svan and Megrel people (other ethnicities of Georgia)
are of Georgian origin (Halvashi, 1996, p.3).
The heated debates
have extended to the identity of Muslim Georgians of Turkey. Turkish
nationalists and some Islamic immigrants from Georgia claim that Muslim
immigrants of Georgia are not Georgian but Acara. This is clearly a
counter-identity manoeuvre: Islamist immigrants of Georgia construct their
identity on the basis of Islam more than anything (Celebi, 2001, p.2). The same
holds for some Muslim Georgians living at Georgia. From a sociological point of
view, this attempt at detachment is comprehensible: In my study at Thailand, I
have observed that Muslims of Thailand when asked whether they are Thai
respond: “Fortunately not! I am Muslim!”.
Apart from Acara
people, it is known that there are small communities in Georgia who are of
Georgian origin but both Muslim and Turkish speakers such as Mesheti Georgians
(Ciloglu, 1996, p.10). Another moot issue is the origin of Laz people. Georgian
party claims that Laz people are of Georgian origin as Megrel and Svan people.
The evidence that is proposed is linguistic: The languages are very similar in
syntax as well as lexicography (Akin, 1998). With this conceptualization in
mind, Chveneburi Magazine publishes a Laz-Megrel-Georgian-Turkish dictionary
part by part at every issue to show how similar the words are. This activity
continues.
[26]
Actually, there are accent differences between very near Georgian villages
(Artvinli, 2000, p.39). Akin (1994) contrasts Machahel and Hopa vis-à-vis
Shavshat and Yusufeli in that sense. That means, Chveneburi Magazine also
serves as a standardizer of Georgian dialects of Turkey.
A second
function served by Chveneburi is to create the literature of Georgians of
Turkey. As Akin (1994) puts it, “the lack
of literature is one of the worst strokes for a language” (p. 23). The
magazine had announced 1995 as the year for poetry and short story in Georgian
to this end. It had offered a literary award for the best works originally
written in Georgian (Chveneburi, 1994, 11-12, p.2).
The Catholic
Georgian Church Publishing House can also be interpreted with regard to the
notion of ‘an imagined community construction’.
[27]
D’allesio (1921/2003) claims that Georgian language is preserved in Georgians
of Turkey due to gender roles. Since females cannot go outdoors (and/or out of
the village) without male accompaniment and going outdoors for them is quite
rare in the rural setting, they are not exposed to Turkish language much
(D’allesio, 1921/2003, p. 22).
[28] Another
interesting point is that General John Malchase David Shalikashvili (birth: 1936)
who had commanded the U.S. army for 35 years in different positions is also
Georgian as his surname implies (Halvashi, 1996, p.4).
[29] The
fact that Stalin was Georgian has been used by ideologues of the other
nationalities of Caucasia to support the idea that Stalin was cruel to
Caucasian populations save Georgians because he is a Georgian nationalist.
Obviously, this is a political move and not true (Akin, 1998, p. 4). Actually,
Georgians were also victims of Stalinist regime. The estimates are 30,000 Georgians
killed in that era including famous artists, for example Tsitsian Tabidze
(1893-1937) (Muchnic, 1971).
[30] In the
Post-Soviet era, Stalin has regained his status as a national hero in Georgia,
especially in his birthplace Gori. Some Georgians long for Stalin, the most
successful Georgian (Rybak, 1999).
[31] The
only book –though it is not more than 60 pages- about Georgians of Turkey
written in the Ottoman Period is Ismetzade Doktor Mehmet Arif (1893/2002). It
is an amateurish ethnographic diary about Georgian villages at Carsamba, Samsun
by a visiting Ottoman physician within the first 15 years of the second
wave.
[32] As
Zubienti (2002) puts it, the first question that Georgians of Turkey encounter
at Turkey-Georgia border nowadays is “Ra gvari har?” [What is your ancestral
name?] A major distinction needs to be mentioned here: In Georgian culture,
‘gvari’ means ancestral names. However, the notion of family names in Turkey is
a late invention. Up until 1934, Turkish people had no surnames. In contrast,
for Georgians, ‘gvari’ dates back to centuries. Thus Georgian term ‘gvari’ and
Turkish term ‘soyad’ do not match very well.
[33] The
participants were from the following countries:
France, United
States, Italy, Spain, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Germany, Argentine, Hungary,
Belgium, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Uzbekistan, Poland, Greece.
Actually, the
list is not exhaustive. Eduard Shevardnadze says in his opening speech that he
has counted 34 flags in the congress (Shevardnadze, 1994, p. 5).
45 Georgians had
participated to the Congress from Turkey, the most populous group. Not
surprisingly, Chveneburi group was among the participants from Turkey (Ciloglu,
& Celik, 1994).
It is known that
there are Georgian communities in other countries not enlisted here (for
Georgians of Iran, see Kutaladze, 1998; Savcin, 2002).
Source: Gezgin, U.B. (2017). From Political Psychology To Teaching Economics: Essays On
Psychology, Economics And Politics.
|
FROM POLITICAL
PSYCHOLOGY TO TEACHING ECONOMICS:
ESSAYS ON
PSYCHOLOGY, ECONOMICS AND POLITICS
Prof.Dr.
Ulaş Başar Gezgin
PSYCHOLOGY
1.
Political Psychology of Peace and War: Peace as a Psychological Need.
2.
Psychology and Architecture in Cities: Phallic Architecture, Urban Quality Of
Life, Environmental Psychology and Social Engineering.
3.
A Half Century of Soviet Psychology: A Comparison of the Two Schools in Terms
of Wertheimer’s Axes.
4.
The Historical Dialectics of Dreams
5.
To What Extent European Societies Correspond to Erich Fromm’s Ideal Society:
Critique of a Theory of Emancipation.
6.
Protestant Work Ethic as a Personality Variable
7.
Some Remarks on A.P. Fiske’s Relational Models Theory
8.
Notes on Mortality Salience
9.
On ‘Hey Girl!’
10.
Parents! What Do You Do Against Bullying? Are You Boosting Self-Esteem?
ECONOMICS AND
MANAGEMENT
11.
The Metaphors in Economics Teaching in ESL in Vietnam.
12.
How to Promote Pluralism in Economics Teaching in Asia: 11 Suggestions.
13.
“What Might a Buddhist IMF Look Like?”: An Article Review.
14.
How to Manage vs. Lead Academics?: Academic Managers vs. Academic Leaders
POLITICS
15.
“That Was When I realized I was Georgian!”: The Imagined Renationalizing of
Georgians and Republican and Post-Republican Responses to New Georgian
Nationalisms
16.
Elect or Erect: 2015 Elections in Turkey.
17.
Human Rights and What?: What ‘Toproots’ Have Not Heard Of?
18.
A Short Commentary on Peter McLaren’s Ecopedagogy.
Bio
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