Georgians in Iran
Iranian Georgians ( Georgian : ირანის ირანის; Persian گرجیهای ایران) are Iranian citizens who are ethnically Georgian . They form a minority living in Iran . Persia under the Safavids forcibly relocated hundreds of thousands of Christian and Jewish Georgians in order to reduce the power of the Kizilbashi , develop the industrial economy, strengthen the military, and populate newly built cities in various areas such as Isfahan and Mazandaran provinces . The Georgian community of Fereydunschahr has retained its own Georgian identity to this day, while adopting aspects of Iranian culture such as the Persian language and Twelve Shia Islam in order to survive in society. The number of Georgians in Iran is estimated at over 100,000.
Geographical distribution, language and culture
The Georgian language is still spoken by part of the Georgians. The center of the Georgians in Iran Fereydunschahr is a small town 150 km west of Isfahan in the area historically known as Fereydan. There are ten Georgian towns and villages in this area. The old Georgian identity is best preserved here compared to other places in Iran, and most of the people there speak and understand the Georgian language.
There were other compact settlements in Khorasan near Abbas Abad (halfway between Shahrud and Sabzevar), Mazandaran near Behschahr and Faraḥābād , Gilan , Isfahan province near Najafabad, Badrud , Rahmatabad, Yazdanshahr and Amir Abad. These areas are often called Gorji Mahalleh ("Georgian neighborhood"). Many Georgians or Iranians of partly Georgian descent are also scattered in major Iranian cities such as Tehran , Isfahan , Rasht , Karaj and Shiraz . Most of these communities no longer speak the Georgian language, but retain aspects of Georgian culture and maintain a Georgian consciousness. Iranian Georgians follow the Shiite traditions and also non-religious traditions that are similar to those of other people in Iran, so they also celebrate Nowruz .
The local self-designation of Georgians in Iran, like the rest of Georgians around the world, is Kartveli (Georgian: ქართველი, plural: Kartvelebi, Georgian: ქართველები, namely Georgians ), although the ethnonyms Gorj, Gorji, Gordsch (i) or even Gurj ( -i) / Gurdsch (-i) can be used (from the Persian "Gorj (i) / Gordsch (i)", which means "Georgian"). They call their language Kartuli (Georgian: ქართული), which is originally the name of the Georgian dialect of the Kartlien region , but which has been the general self-name of the Georgian language since the Middle Ages. As Rezvani notes, this is not surprising given that other Georgian dialects have become extinct in Iran.
According to current estimates, the Iranian Georgians are made up of over 100,000 people. According to Encyclopaedia Georgiana (1986) about 12,000-14,000 lived in rural Fereydan c. 1896 and a more recent estimate by Rezvani (published 2009, written 2008) states that there may be more than 61,000 Georgians in Fereydan. They are also the largest Caucasian group in the Iranian nation, before the Circassians .
history
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Safavid period
Most likely, the first existing community of Georgians in Iran was founded after the invasions of Shah Tahmasp I in Georgia and the rest of the Caucasus , during which he deported about 30,000 Georgians and other Caucasians back to the Safavid Empire .
During his travels in the early 17th century, the Italian adventurer Pietro della Valle claimed that there was no household in Persia without Georgian slaves and noticed how many Georgians are present throughout society. Many Georgians lived in the later capital of the Safavids , Isfahan . Many of the city's residents were of Georgian, Circassian, and Dagistani descent. Engelbert Kaempfer , who was in Safavid Persia from 1684 to 1685, estimated their number at 20,000.
Overall, the Persian sources mention that 225,000 Georgians were resettled in the two centuries of the Safavids, while the Georgian sources give this number as 245,000.
Afsharid period
During the Afsharid dynasty , 5,000 Georgian families were brought to Iran, according to Persian sources, while Georgian sources indicate 30,000 people.
Qajar dynasty
During the Qajar dynasty , according to Persian sources, 15,000 Georgians were brought to Iran, while Georgian sources mention 22,000 people. This last great wave of Georgian settlement in Iran occurred in 1795 as a result of the Battle of Krtsanisi.
In today's Iran
Despite their isolation from Georgia, many Georgians have retained their language and some traditions, but adopted Islam . The ethnographer Lado Aghniashvili was the first from Georgia to visit this community in 1890.
After the Second World War , the Georgian minority in Iran was exposed to the pressures of the emerging Cold War . In 1945, the Soviet Union identified this compact ethnic community, along with other ethnic minorities living in northern Iran, as a possible instrument for sparking unrest in Iranian domestic politics. While the Soviet Georgian leadership wanted to return them to Georgia , Moscow preferred to leave them in Iran. Soviet plans were not abandoned until Joseph Stalin realized that his plans to gain influence in northern Iran were thwarted by both Iran's stubbornness and pressure from the United States.
In June 2004 the new Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was the first Georgian politician to visit the Iranian-Georgian community in Fereydunschahr. Thousands of local Georgians greeted the delegation, including by waving the newly adopted Georgian national flag with its five crosses. Saakashvili emphasized that the Iranian Georgians have historically played an important role in the defense of Iran and brought flowers to the graves of the Iranian-Georgian dead in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Babak Rezvani: The Fereydani Georgian Representation of Identity and Narration of History: A Case of Emic Coherence . In: Anthropology of the Middle East . tape 4 , no. 2 , December 1, 2009, ISSN 1746-0719 , p. 52–74 , doi : 10.3167 / ame.2009.040205 ( berghahnjournals.com [accessed on March 17, 2020]).
- ↑ Iran. Retrieved March 17, 2020 .
- ↑ CAUCASUS AND IRAN. October 12, 2007, accessed March 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Rudolph (Rudi) Matthee: Enc.Ir. Georgians in Safavid Iran . ( academia.edu [accessed March 17, 2020]).
- ↑ a b c Babak Rezvani: Research Garte. Retrieved March 17, 2020 (English).