View source for Assyrians in Georgia

{{Short description|Ethnic group in Georgia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Assyrians in Georgia
| image            = [[File:Assyrian church in Dzveli-Kanda (Photo A. Muhranoff, 2011).jpg|250px|Assyrian church in Dzveli-Kanda village]]<br />Assyrian church in Dzveli-Kanda village
| pop              = 3,299<ref>"According to the 1989 population census, there were 5,200 Assyrians in Georgia (0.1 percent); according to the 2002 census, their number dropped to 3,299, while their percentage remained the same" [http://www.syriacstudies.com/AFSS/Syriac_Articles_in_English/Entries/2010/1/13_THE_ASSYRIANS_OF_GEORGIA__ETHNIC_SPECIFICS_SHOULD_BE_PRESERVED_Mamuka_KOMAKHIA.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025203901/http://www.syriacstudies.com/AFSS/Syriac_Articles_in_English/Entries/2010/1/13_THE_ASSYRIANS_OF_GEORGIA__ETHNIC_SPECIFICS_SHOULD_BE_PRESERVED_Mamuka_KOMAKHIA.html |date=25 October 2021 }} [The Assyrians of Georgia: Ethnic Specifics Should Be Preserved in the Journal of Central Asia and the Caucasus]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ecoi.net/189322::georgia/324351.316658.8309...lk.566738/others.htm |title=2002 Georgian census |access-date=2011-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105030638/http://www.ecoi.net/189322::georgia/324351.316658.8309...lk.566738/others.htm |archive-date=2014-11-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| region1          = <center>[[Tbilisi]], [[Gardabani]], [[Kutaisi]], [[Batumi]]</center>
| pop1             = 
| languages        = [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian]]
| religions        = Mainly [[Christianity]]<br /><small>([[Georgian Orthodox Church|Georgian Orthodoxy]] and [[Syriac Christianity]])</small>
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| related_groups   = 
}}
{{Assyrian culture}}

'''[[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] in Georgia''' ({{lang-ka|ასურელები}}) number 3,299 (as of 2002), and most arrived in the Southern [[Caucasus]] in early 20th century when their ancestors fled present-day [[Turkey]] and [[Iran]] during the [[Assyrian genocide]].

==History==
Historically, the first [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] arrived in Georgia in the 6th century A.D. when 13 Assyrian monks (historically known by the Georgians as the [[Thirteen Assyrian Fathers|13 saint Assyrian fathers]]) from the city of [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]] came to Georgia and established the [[Shio-Mgvime Monastery]]. Scholars have linked their contribution to the Christianization of Georgia, with [[Saint Nino]] leading the way of converts from paganism. Assyrians came in contact with Georgians once again in the 1760s. Assyrians under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule were looking for some kind of protection from religious and ethnic persecution. Patriarch of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] [[Mar Avraam]] requested of Georgian king [[Erekle II]] protection for Assyrians and the [[Yezidi]]s of present-day Turkey. In April 1770, Georgian troops, under Russian command, headed towards the city of Akhaltsikhe. At the same time, Assyrian bishop Ishaya (Isaiah) left [[Tbilisi]] and carried letters to Assyrian and Yezidi leaders, whence the Georgian king invited them to fight together against the Ottomans. The Assyrians and Yezidis were prepared to move against the Ottomans, whenever the support from Erekle II arrived, but Russian General [[Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben|Totleben]] changed his mind and turned his detachment back to Kartli.

{{Historical populations|1939|4707|1970|5617|1979|5286|1989|6206|2002|3299
|footnote=Sources:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php?reg=4|title=Грузинская ССР (1939)|website=Demoscope Weekly|access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_70.php?reg=6|title=Грузинская ССР (1970)|website=Demoscope Weekly|access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_79.php?reg=6|title=Грузинская ССР (1979)|website=Demoscope Weekly|access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=6|title=Грузинская ССР (1989)|website=Demoscope Weekly|access-date=11 January 2024}}</ref>}}
The plans for military cooperation failed, but during the war that ensued, an Assyrian community of several dozen families appeared in Georgia. They arrived in Makhani<!--Mukhrani?--> from [[Persia]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The second wave of Assyrian immigrants arrived when Russia signed the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] with Persia in 1828, where Assyrians and Kurds from Iran arrived in Georgia as workers. They also arrived in the second half of the 19th century and settled in [[Tbilisi]], becoming Russian and later [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] citizens. By the end of the 19th century, there were over five thousand Assyrians living in Georgia. A fourth and largest wave came in between the years of 1915 and 1918, as Assyrians fled from the [[Assyrian genocide]].

==Today's Assyrian community in Georgia==
On May 15, 2005, [[United States]] President [[George W. Bush]] met with the leaders of Georgia's Assyrians.
The meeting was mostly about the situation of Assyrians in Iraq. Assyrian leaders also gave the American president a letter as well. [https://archive.today/20130123194200/http://www.furkono.com/modules/upload/appeal_usa/picture_008.jpg]
When asked by Edgar Bitbunov, the Member of Assyrian International Congress
"Nowadays American Georgian forces are on Assyrian soil in Iraq. Of course,we aren't indifferent to the fortune of assyrians in Iraq. What's their future like? What can you say about it?" Bush answered: "We consider that every nation is equally responsible to find its own way to develop and achieve its own object. Assyrians are equal in right to any other peoples living in Iraq these days. Assyrians other nations in Iraq first of all should change their way of thinking, should act more persistently, resolutely and bravery to achieve their own objects and principles all these are in their hands. The USA always stands for, defends and supports people fighting for justice, freedom, independence and democracy."

==Assyrian churches in Georgia==
*Mar Shimon Bar Sabbae Assyrian [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and Religious Cultural Center (2009), Tbilisi.
*Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Georgian Orthodox Church in Dzveli-Kanda.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/minlang/AboutCharter/Minority%20languages%20in%20Georgia_EN.pdf|year=2016 |access-date=17 April 2023|website=coe.int|title=Minority languages in Georgia}}</ref>
*Church of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers, Georgian Orthodox Church in village Dzveli Kanda
==See also== 
* [[Assyrians in Armenia]] 
* [[Assyrian people|Assyrians in Azerbaijan]] 
* [[Assyrians in Russia]] 
* [[Assyrians in Turkey]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.aina.org/reports/tykaaog.pdf The Yezidi Kurds and Assyrians of Georgia], Journal of the Central Asia & the Caucasus, Iraklii Chikhladze, Giga Chikhladze. (3/21/2003)
*[http://www.ca-c.org/online/2006/journal_eng/cac-03/16.komen.shtml The Assyrians of Georgia: Ethnic Specifics Should be Reserved]

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929222418/http://assur.ge/ Assyrian National Congress of Georgia]

{{Assyrian communities}} 
{{Europe in topic|Assyrians in}}
{{Asia in topic|Assyrians in}}
{{Ethnic groups in Georgia}}

[[Category:Assyrian diaspora in Europe|Georgia]] 
[[Category:Assyrian diaspora in Asia|Georgia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Georgia (country)]]