Chveneburi
Encyclopedia
Chveneburi meaning "of us" in Georgian
, is an autonym of Muslim
immigrants of Georgian
descent who had settled in non-Georgian majority regions of Turkey
, thus, "of us" signifies a triple distinction from Christian
Georgians
, Muslim Turks
, and autochthonous Muslim Georgians. Chveneburi are Sunni Muslims
of Hanafi
madh'hab.
basically in three waves of migration due to ethnic cleansing
and pograms of Muslim
s by the Russian Empire
. The first wave was during and after the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
when the Sublime Porte consigned its sovereignty over several parts of Georgia to the Russian Empire
. Minor immigrations had also followed until Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
when the major wave of immigration involved immigrants from historic Georgian regions that had considerable Muslim populations like Artvin
, Adjara
, Ardahan
, Samtskhe, and Lower Guria
. Adjarians were also known by their places of origin, such as Batumlular for people from Batumi
, Çürüksulular for people from Kobuleti
. This wave of being muhajir
s, known as muhajiroba (მუჰაჯირობა) had left many Muslim-majority regions of Georgia virtually depopulated. The last sizeable wave of immigration was in 1921 when Turkey finally gave up her claims on Adjara in the Treaty of Kars
with the Soviet republics
. This last wave also involved Turkish
-speaking Muslims from Upper Adjara.
The statistical information regarding the Georgians of Turkey is scarce and not accurate. According to the Turkish census of 1965, 34,330 persons declared speaking Georgian as mother-tongue and 48,976 as second language. Magnarella estimated the number of Georgians in Turkey to have been over 60,000 in 1979.
http://www.chveneburi.net/sp/bpg/publication_view.asp?InfoID=157007&iabspos=3&vjob=vsub,270. Since then, Osman Nuri Imedashvili has been in charge of the magazine. The magazine's content is almost completely in Turkish
and presents articles on Chveneburi as well as the present situation and the history of Georgia
and Georgians worldwide. Another journal Pirosmani, bilingual in Georgian and Turkish, is published in Istanbul
.
still plays a central role in the lives of most Chveneburi. They had long harbored suspicion for the Georgian SSR's atheistic
policies and, today, allegations of mass conversions to Christianity in Georgia bear a potential to further sever the ties.
Intermarriage with other Sunni groups is common. In some regions, specifically Ünye for instance, Chveneburi maidens are sought brides, seen by local Turkish population as beautiful and hard-working wives. This phenomenon further accelerates cultural and linguistic assimilation
of the community.
Historical theses to lay claims for a non-Georgian or Turkic
ancestry for Chveneburi have been encouraged by the Turkish State. The most prominent figure of this historiography
was Mehmet Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu. A more recent example of such efforts is the 2001 book by Yunus Zeyrek, Acarlar ve Acaristan. Many Chveneburi have assigned to these ideas and style themselves as Ajar from the historical Georgian land Ajaristan
.
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, is an autonym of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
immigrants of Georgian
Georgian people
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
descent who had settled in non-Georgian majority regions of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, thus, "of us" signifies a triple distinction from Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
Georgians
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, Muslim Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
, and autochthonous Muslim Georgians. Chveneburi are Sunni Muslims
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
of Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
madh'hab.
History
Chveneburi had arrived in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
basically in three waves of migration due to ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
and pograms of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The first wave was during and after the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
when the Sublime Porte consigned its sovereignty over several parts of Georgia to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Minor immigrations had also followed until Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of numerous Balkan...
when the major wave of immigration involved immigrants from historic Georgian regions that had considerable Muslim populations like Artvin
Artvin
-History:See Artvin Province for the history of the region.-Places of interest:* Artvin or Livana castle, built in 937There are a number of Ottoman Empire houses and public buildings including:* Salih Bey mosque, built in 1792...
, Adjara
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
, Ardahan
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
, Samtskhe, and Lower Guria
Guria
Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 143,357 and Ozurgeti is a regional capital.-Geography:...
. Adjarians were also known by their places of origin, such as Batumlular for people from Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
, Çürüksulular for people from Kobuleti
Kobuleti
Kobuleti is a town in Georgia's southwestern region of Ajaria. It is situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Kobuleti is a sea resort, visited annually by Georgians and many former Soviet Union residents. From the 17th century into the 19th, Kobuleti was a fiefdom of the Tavdgiridze...
. This wave of being muhajir
Muhajir (Caucasus)
Circassians, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Caucasus were cleansed from their homeland at the end of the Caucasian War by victorious Russia, which by its manner of suppression of the Caucasus directed at the Crimean Tartars and Circassians can be credited with "inventing the strategy of...
s, known as muhajiroba (მუჰაჯირობა) had left many Muslim-majority regions of Georgia virtually depopulated. The last sizeable wave of immigration was in 1921 when Turkey finally gave up her claims on Adjara in the Treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
with the Soviet republics
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. This last wave also involved Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
-speaking Muslims from Upper Adjara.
Distribution
Chveneburi live scattered throughout Turkey, although they are concentrated on two major regions of residence:- Black SeaBlack SeaThe Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
coast, in the provinces GiresunGiresun ProvinceGiresun Province is a province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Trabzon to the east, Gümüşhane to the south-west, Erzincan to the south, Sivas to the south-east, and Ordu to the west. The provincial capital is Giresun....
, OrduOrdu ProvinceOrdu Province is a province of Turkey, located on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, Sivas to the south, and Giresun to the east. Its traffic code is 52...
, SamsunSamsun ProvinceSamsun Province is a province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast with a population of 1,252,693 . Its adjacent provinces are Sinop on the northwest, Çorum on the west, Amasya on the south, Tokat on the southeast, and Ordu on the east...
, and SinopSinop ProvinceSinop Province is a province of Turkey, along the Black Sea. It is located between 41 and 42 degrees North latitude and between 34 and 35 degrees East longitude. The surface area is 5,862 km², equivalent to 0.8% of Turkey's surface area. The borders total 475 km and consists of 300 km of land and...
, with extension to AmasyaAmasya ProvinceAmasya Province is a province of Turkey, situated on the Yeşil River in the Black Sea Region to the north of the country. Area 5,520 km². Population 334,786....
and TokatTokat ProvinceTokat Province is a province in northern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Amasya to the northwest, Yozgat to the southwest, Sivas to the southeast, and Ordu to the northeast...
. Chveneburi particularly in the ÜnyeÜnyeÜnye is a large town and district of Ordu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 76 km west of the city of Ordu. In 2009 it had 74,806 inhabitants.-Geography:Ünye has a little port, in a bay on one of the flatter areas of the Black Sea coast...
, OrduOrduOrdu 'army') is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, and the capital of Ordu Province. Estimated population c. 2010: 141,341.-Etymology:...
, TermeTermeTerme is a district of Samsun Province of Turkey. The mayor is Ahmet Hamdi Yirmibeşoğlu ....
, and ÇarşambaÇarsambaÇarşamba is a town and district of Samsun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is second largest district of the Samsun province after Bafra. The mayor is Hüseyin Dündar .-External links:*...
areas preserve their speech and traditions.
- Northwestern Turkey, in the provinces DüzceDüzce ProvinceDüzce Province is a province in northwestern Turkey. It is on the coastline of the Black Sea and is traversed by the main highway between Istanbul and Ankara. The main town is Düzce...
, SakaryaSakarya ProvinceSakarya Province is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The river Sakarya creates a webbing of estuaries in the province....
, KocaeliKocaeli ProvinceKocaeli Province is a province of Turkey. Its capital is İzmit, which is sometimes referred to as Kocaeli itself. The largest town in the province is now Gebze. The traffic code is 41. The province is located at the easternmost end of the Marmara Sea, especially on the Gulf of İzmit. Because of...
, BursaBursa ProvinceBursa Province is a province in western Turkey, along the Sea of Marmara. Its adjacent provinces are Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast and Yalova to the north. The province has an area of 11,043 km2 and a population of 3,187,000...
, and BalıkesirBalikesir ProvinceBalıkesir Province is a province in midwestern Turkey, having coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean. Its adjacent provinces are Çanakkale to the west, İzmir to the southwest, Manisa to the south, Kütahya to the southeast, and Bursa to the east. The provincial capital is Balıkesir City...
.
The statistical information regarding the Georgians of Turkey is scarce and not accurate. According to the Turkish census of 1965, 34,330 persons declared speaking Georgian as mother-tongue and 48,976 as second language. Magnarella estimated the number of Georgians in Turkey to have been over 60,000 in 1979.
Press
The most important Georgian cultural magazine in Turkey also bears the name Çveneburi. It was founded in 1977 in Stockholm Sweden by Shalva Tevzadze. Distributed in Turkey by Ahmet Özkan Melashvili who also wrote the book Gürcüstan (Georgia) in 1968. In 1980, Özkan was assassinated in Bursa by the Grey WolvesGrey Wolves
The Idealist Youth , commonly known as Grey Wolves , is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization. It is accused of terrorism. According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders between 1974–1980.-Name:...
http://www.chveneburi.net/sp/bpg/publication_view.asp?InfoID=157007&iabspos=3&vjob=vsub,270. Since then, Osman Nuri Imedashvili has been in charge of the magazine. The magazine's content is almost completely in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and presents articles on Chveneburi as well as the present situation and the history of Georgia
History of Georgia (country)
The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty in the 9th to 10th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of ancient Colchis and Iberia...
and Georgians worldwide. Another journal Pirosmani, bilingual in Georgian and Turkish, is published in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
Group identity
Group identity is shaped basically by the schism with Christian Georgians. Chveneburi usually restrain from using the word Kartveli (ქართველი) as a self-designation because they think it indicates being a Christian.http://www.konapedia.com/index.php?title=%C3%87veneburiler They prefer to use Gurji (Gürcü) (გურჯი) when referring to their more precise ethnic background. IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
still plays a central role in the lives of most Chveneburi. They had long harbored suspicion for the Georgian SSR's atheistic
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
policies and, today, allegations of mass conversions to Christianity in Georgia bear a potential to further sever the ties.
Intermarriage with other Sunni groups is common. In some regions, specifically Ünye for instance, Chveneburi maidens are sought brides, seen by local Turkish population as beautiful and hard-working wives. This phenomenon further accelerates cultural and linguistic assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
of the community.
Historical theses to lay claims for a non-Georgian or Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
ancestry for Chveneburi have been encouraged by the Turkish State. The most prominent figure of this historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
was Mehmet Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu. A more recent example of such efforts is the 2001 book by Yunus Zeyrek, Acarlar ve Acaristan. Many Chveneburi have assigned to these ideas and style themselves as Ajar from the historical Georgian land Ajaristan
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
.
See also
- Adjarians
- Pontic GreeksPontic GreeksThe Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
- HamshenisHamshenisThe Hemshin Peoples or Hemshinli are a diverse group of people who in the past history or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin district in the province of Rize, Turkey. They are called as Hemshinli , Hamshenis, Homshentsi meaning resident of Hemshin in the relevant language...
- Laz peopleLaz peopleThe Laz are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia...
- Peoples of the Caucasus in TurkeyPeoples of the Caucasus in TurkeyThe terms Peoples of the Caucasus and Caucasian peoples indicate two main groups of people in Turkey:*Immigrants from North Caucasus:**Circassians : Following the end of Circassian insurgency in 1864 and as an exodus from North Caucasia, Circassian peoples had settled in the territory of Turkey...
- Iranian Georgians
- Pirosmani
- Islam in Georgia
External links
- Chveneburi
- Pirosmani / ფიროსმანი
- Gezgin, Ulas Basar (2004) Republican and Post-Republican Responses to New Georgian Nationalisms (PhD Proposal in Anthropology). teori.org (includes a list of selected publications on the Georgian communities of Turkey)