Adjara

Adjara (აჭარა Ach’ara ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara (აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a ), is a political-administrative region of Georgia. It is in the country's southwestern corner, on the coast of the Black Sea, near the foot of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, north of Turkey. It is an important tourist destination and includes Georgia's second most populous city of Batumi as its capital. About 350,000 people live on its 2,880 km2.

Adjara is home to the Adjarians, a regional subgroup of Georgians. The name can be spelled in a number of ways: Ajara, Ajaria, Adjaria, Adzharia, Atchara and Achara. Under the Soviet Union, Adjara was part of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic as the Adjarian ASSR. The autonomous status of Adjara is guaranteed under article 6 of the Treaty of Kars.

History
Adjara was a part of Georgian polities, Colchis and Caucasian Iberia, since ancient times. Colonized by Greeks in the 5th century BC, the region fell under Rome in the 2nd century BC. It became part of the Lazica before being incorporated into the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the 8th century AD, the latter led unification of Georgian monarchy in the 11th century.

Andrew the Apostle, who is believed to be a missionary of the Mother of God to Georgia and founder of the Georgian Orthodox Church, entered Georgia from Adjara region and first preached Christianity there.

Adjaria was occupied by several empires: the First Persian Empire (500 BC), Seljuks (11th century), Mongols (13th century), and Timurids (14th century).

Ottoman period
The Ottomans conquered the area in 1614. Although, the Ottoman millet system allowed its subjects extensive self-governance and religious freedom, many Adjarians gradually chose to convert to Islam during the 200 years of Ottoman presence. The nobility converted first. Adjarians were fully Islamized by the end of the eighteenth century.

Russian Empire
The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin. The Berlin Treaty allowed Adjarians to leave for Turkey, keeping a provision of Section 6, article 21 of the Treaty of San Stefano. Many Adjarians emigrated to Turkey. While the Russian authorities supported the Russian Orthodox Church's missionary efforts, they also tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas and supporting the local Muslim clergy. As a result, many Adjarians emigrants, called Muhacir, came back to Adjara. Within Russian imperial administrative division, Adjara was called Batumi okrug, comprising Kutaisi Governorate.

Soviet rule
In 1918, Georgia regained its independence as a democratic republic and Adjara became part of it. However, in April 1918, the Ottoman Empire invaded Georgia and captured Batumi. On 4 June 1918, the Treaty of Batum was signed, under which Georgia was forced to cede Adjara to the Ottoman Empire. However, due to the Ottoman defeat in the First World War and the Treaty of Mudros, the Ottomans soon withdrew the territory. After the temporary occupation by the British (with the entrance of the British warship HMS Liverpool (1909)) troops in 1918–1920, Adjara became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1920. The British administration ceded the region to the Democratic Republic of Georgia on July 20, 1920. It was granted autonomy under the Georgian constitution adopted in February 1921 when the Red Army invaded Georgia. Turkey reinvaded Adjara in March 1921, although Georgians defeated Turks in the Battle of Batumi and Ankara's government ceded the territory to Georgia under Article VI of Treaty of Kars on the condition that autonomy be provided for the Muslim population, while Turkish commodities were guaranteed free transit through the port of Batumi. The Soviets established in 1921 the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in accord with this clause, thus Adjara remained part of Georgia. Until 1937, it had the name Ajaristan. The autonomous republic was the only autonomous unit in the USSR based solely on religion. However, Stalin's definition of what constituted a nation was based on language. Without their own language, Adjars did not develop a strong sense of national identity, separate from Georgian. Moreover, the Soviet atheist ideology dampened religious practice. In the 1920s, the Ajars rebelled against the Soviet anti-Islamic activities, as well as against the collectivization reforms. The armed uprising began in the mountainous regions of Adjara in April 1929. Soviet troops were deployed in response and swiftly quelled the revolt.

Independent Georgia
After the Georgian independence, Aslan Abashidze became the chairman of Ajaria's parliament. Abashidze was initially appointed by the first Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia in 1991. However, he later took advantage of the civil war in the country and turned Adjara into the personal fiefdom, although it remained relatively prosperous enclave in an otherwise rather chaotic country. Abashidze unilaterally took power without formal agreement and started to withhold tax revenue and capture Adjara's considerable wealth. His opponents alleged that Abashidze engaged in smuggling. After the end of Georgia's civil war, Abashidze reached agreement with the Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze to stay in power. The central government in Tbilisi had very little say in what went on in Adjara. Elections in Adjara were not free and fair, Abashidze controlled the media and captured customs revenue for his personal enrichment. Abashidze instituted the border control with the rest of Georgia and created armed paramilitaries. However, he asserted that Adjara wasn't separatist. Even though Shevardnadze often complained about Abashidze's aggressive autonomous strategy, they had good relationships and supported each other when they needed public support. On October 24, 1997, Adjara became a full member of the Assembly of European Regions (AER).

This changed following the Rose Revolution of 2003 when Shevardnadze was deposed in favour of the reformist opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili. Adjaran leader Aslan Abashidze, being in strong opposition to the Rose Revolution, declared a state of emergency immediately after Eduard Shevardnadze's ousting on November 23, 2003. He began to crackdown on opposition, with dozens being injured as a result of clashes between protesters and police in the southern Adjaran village of Gonio in January 2004. Soon after his inauguration as president in January 2004, Saakashvili took aim at Abashidze with strong anticorruption reforms. In the wake of Abashidze's visit to Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on January 20 backing Abashidze's policy and condemning his opposition as "extremist forces". In spring 2004, a major crisis in Adjara erupted as the central government sought to reimpose its authority on the region. It led to several encounters between Abashidze's paramilitaries and the Georgian army. However, Saakashvili's ultimata and mass protests in Batumi against Abashidze's autocratic rule forced the Adjaran leader to resign in May 2004. Facing charges of embezzlement and murder, Abashidze destroyed the bridges between Adjara and the rest of Georgia to delay the advance of Georgian troops in Batumi and then fled to Moscow. Even Abashidze's former ally, Haji Mahmud Kamashidze, sided with Saakashvili. Saakashvili wanted Adjara to keep a significant autonomy. A new law was therefore introduced to redefine the terms of Adjara's autonomy. Levan Varshalomidze succeeded Abashidze as the chairman of the government.

In July 2007, the seat of the Georgian Constitutional Court was moved from Tbilisi to Batumi. In November 2007 Russia ended its two-century military presence in Georgia by withdrawing from the 12th Military Base (the former 145th Motor Rifle Division) in Batumi.

Turkey still has noticeable economic and religious influence in Adjara as the Georgians wary of the rising Turkish presence.

Law and government


The status of the Adjaran Autonomous Republic is defined by Georgia's law on Adjara and the region's new constitution, adopted following the ousting of Aslan Abashidze. The local legislative body is the Supreme Council. The head of the region's government&mdash;the Council of Ministers of Adjara&mdash;is nominated by the President of Georgia who also has powers to dissolve the assembly and government and to overrule local authorities on issues where the constitution of Georgia is contravened. Tornike Rizhvadze is the current head of the Adjaran government.

Administrative divisions
Adjara is subdivided into six administrative units:

Geography and climate
Adjara is on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea and extends into the wooded foothills and mountains of the Lesser Caucasus. It has borders with the region of Guria to the north, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the east and Turkey to the south. Most of Adjara's territory either consists of hills or mountains. The highest mountains rise more than 3,000 m above sea level. Around 60% of Adjara is covered by forests. Many parts of the Meskheti Range (the west-facing slopes) are covered by temperate rain forests.

Adjara is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.

Climate
Adjara is well known for its humid climate (especially along the coastal regions) and prolonged rainy weather, although there is plentiful sunshine during the spring and summer months. Adjara receives the highest amounts of precipitation both in Georgia and in the Caucasus. It is also one of the wettest temperate regions in the northern hemisphere. No region along Adjara's coast receives less than 2200 mm of precipitation per year. The west-facing (windward) slopes of the Meskheti Range receive upwards of 4500 mm of precipitation per year. The coastal lowlands receive most of the precipitation in the form of rain (due to the area's subtropical climate). September and October are usually the wettest months. Batumi's average monthly rainfall for the month of September is 410 mm. The interior parts of Adjara are considerably drier than the coastal mountains and lowlands. Winter usually brings significant snowfall to the higher regions of Adjara, where snowfall often reaches several meters. Average summer temperatures are between 22–24 degrees Celsius in the lowland areas and 17–21 degrees Celsius in the highlands. The highest areas of Adjara have lower temperatures. Average winter temperatures are between 4–6 degrees Celsius along the coast while the interior areas and mountains average around -3–2 degrees Celsius. Some of the highest mountains of Adjara have average winter temperatures of -8–(-7) degrees Celsius.

Economy
Adjara has good land for growing tea, citrus fruits and tobacco. Mountainous and forested, the region has a subtropical climate, and there are many health resorts. Tobacco, tea, citrus fruits, and avocados are leading crops; livestock raising is also important. Industries include tea packing, tobacco processing, fruit and fish canning, oil refining, and shipbuilding.

The regional capital, Batumi, is an important gateway for the shipment of goods heading into Georgia, Azerbaijan and landlocked Armenia. The port of Batumi is used for the shipment of oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Its oil refinery handles Caspian oil from Azerbaijan which arrives by pipeline to Supsa port and is transported from there to Batumi by rail. The Adjaran capital is a centre for shipbuilding and manufacturing.

Adjara is the main center of Georgia's coastal tourism industry, having displaced the northwestern province of Abkhazia since that region's de facto secession from Georgia in 1993.

Demographics
According to the 2014 census, the population of Adjara is 333,953.

Ethnic groups
The Adjarians (Ajars) are an ethnographic group of the Georgian people who speak a group of local dialects known collectively as Adjarian. The written language is Georgian. Adjarians have been known as "Muslim Georgians". They were officially referred as such until the 1926 Soviet census which listed them as "Ajars" and counted 71,000 of them. Later, they were simply classified under a broader category of Georgians as no official Soviet census asked about religion. In independent Georgia, censuses do not include an "Adjarian" category, nor do they distinguish between ethnic Georgian Muslims and other Muslims, such as Azerbaijanis.

Ethnic minorities include Laz, Russians, Armenians, Pontic Greeks, and Abkhaz.

Religion
After Adjara was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin, Adjarians, who were Muslims, were allowed to leave for Turkey. While the Russian authorities supported the Russian Orthodox Church's missionary efforts, they also tried to win the loyalty of Adjarians by building mosques and madrassas and supporting the local Muslim clergy. As a result, many Adjarians emigrants, called Muhacir, came back to Adjara.

Although Adjara's political and religious autonomy was guaranteed by the 1921 Treaty of Kars, the Soviet atheist ideology dampened religious practice in the region.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the re-establishment of Georgia's independence first led to an Islamic revival. However, later Christianity has experienced a strong growth in Adjara, especially among the young, which saw the conversion to Christianity as returning to the religion of ancestors prior to the Ottoman conquest. Nevertheless, there still remain Sunni Muslim communities in Adjara, mainly in the Khulo district. The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs is active in Adjara. According to Ghia Nodia, many Adjarians are Muslims but they consider themselves ethnic Georgians. According to the 2014 census, 54.5% of Adjara's population is Orthodox Christian, while 39.8% is Muslim, the rest includes atheists, adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church and others. In the main city, Batumi, out of 152,839 inhabitants, 68,7% is Eastern Orthodox Christian, and they primarily adhere to the national Georgian Orthodox Church. Muslims make up 25,3% of population, while there are also Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Jehovah's Witness, Seventh-day Adventist, and Jewish communities. In the second largest Kobuleti Municipality, 65.1% of the population in Orthodox Christian, while 28.8% is Muslim. Muslims make up majorities mostly in the mountainous districts, they make up 94.6% of the population in Khulo Municipality, 74.4% in Shuakhevi Municipality, 62.1% in Keda Municipality and 56.3% Khelvachauri Municipality.

Selimoba
Selimoba is held in the village of Bako, Khulo Municipality on June 3 and commemorates the life of Selim Khimshiashvili. A concert with the participation of local amateur groups of a folk handicraft products exhibition is held during the festival. It is supported by Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Adjara.

Shuamtoba
Shuamtoba ("inter-mountain festival") is a traditional festival, which is held on the summer mountain pastures of two municipalities (Khulo and Shuakhevi), during the first weekend of every August. Horse racing, a folk handicraft exhibition and a concert involving folk ensembles are held as well.

Machakhloba
Machakhloba is a Machakhela gorge festivity, held in the second half of September. It is a traditional holiday celebrated in Machakhela gorge, Khelvachauri Municipality. The festival begins at the Machakhela rifle monument (at the point of convergence of the rivers Machakhela and Chorokhi), continues in the village Machakhispiri and ends in the village Zeda Chkhutuneti.

Kolkhoba
Kolkhoba is an ancient Laz festival. It is held at the end of August or at the beginning of September in Sarpi village, Khelvachauri District. The story of the Argonauts is performed on stage during the festival.

Notable people

 * Aslan Abashidze (born 1938), head of the Adjarian government 1991–2004
 * Memed Abashidze (1873–1941), prominent political leader of Muslim Georgians
 * Tbeli Abuserisdze (1190–1240), Georgian writer and scientist
 * Sopho Khalvashi (born 31 May 1986), Georgian singer
 * Ahmed-Pasha Khimshiashvili (died 1836), Great Ottoman Pasha
 * Selim Khimshiashvili (3 June 1815), Pasha (Minister) of Ottoman and Russia Political Affairs on 1802
 * Zurab Nogaideli (born 1964), former Prime Minister of Georgia 2005–2007
 * Levan Varshalomidze (born 1972), head of the Adjarian government 2004–2012
 * Fyodor Yurchikhin (born 3 January 1959), cosmonaut