Georgians in Turkey

Georgians in Turkey (tr) refers to citizens and denizens of Turkey who are, or descend from, ethnic Georgians. In the census of 1965, those who spoke Georgian as first language were proportionally most numerous in Artvin (3.7%), Ordu (0.9%) and Kocaeli (0.8%). Georgians live scattered throughout Turkey, although they are primarily concentrated in two major regions: The Black Sea coast, in the provinces of Giresun, Ordu, Samsun, Sinop, Amasya, and Tokat. Chveneburi Georgians (particularly in Fatsa, Ünye, Ordu, Terme, and Çarşamba) largely preserve their language and traditions. Northwestern Turkey, in the provinces of Düzce, Sakarya, Yalova, Kocaeli, Bursa, and Balıkesir. Magnarella estimated the number of Georgians in Turkey to have been over 60,000 in 1979. Imerkhevians (Shavshetians) are an ethnographic subgroup of Georgians who speak the Imerkhevian dialect (imerkheuli) of the Georgian language, which shares many common features with the neighboring Adjarian. Imerkhevians are the indigenous population of Artvin Province. The majority of the Imerkhevians today live in an area they call Imerkhevi. The population of Imerkhevi is largely composed of ethnic Georgians, who inhabit 14 hamlets around Meydancık (formerly known as Diobani). These settlements have both official Turkish and unofficial Georgian names. Reflecting some internal differentiation persisting in Turkey's Georgian community, the Imerkhevians claim a different origin from the Georgians in the Borçka area, who have adopted an inclusive Adjar identity. The Imerkhevians are Sunni Muslims, closely integrated with the Turkish society. Almost all are bilingual in Georgian and Turkish. Chveneburi (ჩვენებური, çveneburi), meaning "of us" in Georgian, is an endonym of Georgian-descended Muslim immigrants 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 from Artvin. As with most Turkish citizens, most Chveneburi subscribe to the Hanafi madh'hab of Sunni Islam.