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Abkhazia
Legal basis of statehood and sovereignty
Chapter I. Abkhazians - ancient ethnos with original culture
1.4. Who are "Georgians"?
As follows from the scheme of ethnic continuity of the people of
Transcaucasia, the term "Georgians" has no connection with the people of this
region. Since XIII century in Persian and Arabian documents devoted to this
region, there has been a term “Gurdj” 4 which historians of XVIII and later
centuries transform into “Gurzan”, and the country where they live is called “Djurzan”
or “Gurzan”. The country of Gurdjes is located geographically in the areas Tao-Klardjeti
and along the southern Black Sea coast, and its main town, Artanudj, is nowadays
a Turkish city.
Iakut notices that Georgians are newcomers in present-day Georgia, and they
were not there until David III captured Tiflis in 1228, and a century later
they were still small in number. Even in 1832, as Senkovsky states, the
numerical structure of the population across all Georgia was as follows:
Georgians 101,000 souls, Armenians 56,000, Tatars (Azerbaijanians) 41,200,
Ossetians 15,400, Pshavs 2,040, Tushes 2,400, Khevsurs 1,510, Greeks 1,810,
Germans 1,040, Jews 500. Total 224,300 persons, i.e. after the declared 17
centuries of being in the territory, Georgians did not make the majority of
the population, especially if one considers that all ethnoses living in this
territory were named Georgians, although they did not consider themselves as
Georgians then or even now. If one accepts the condition that at that time
Russians named only Kartvels and Kakhetinians as “Georgians”, their share as a
part of the population will be insignificant.
Inhabitants of Transcaucasia before the XX century did not use the terms
"Georgia" and "Georgians", as each of them considered that they belonged to a
definite tribe and nationality, which had more essential value. But for
Russian officials and military men, use of the given term was convenient as it
was not necessary to consider which set of nationalities was occupying
Transcaucasia, it was easier to name them in a word which did not define
anything. As a result, such people as Meskhs, Svans, Gurians and Imeretians
have appeared as "Georgians". It is indicative that Abkhazians name modern
Georgians as Gurdjes.
The argumentation of modern Georgian historians and politicians, trying to
prove the uniqueness of the modern nation "Georgia", relies upon the ignorance
of those inhabitants of Russia, America and Europe for whom the world is
presented in such a way that in Africa there live only Negroes, and in the
Caucasus, only Georgians.
In modern Georgian interpretation of history, the toponym "Sakartvelo" is
used, as it is supposed to be a synonym of "Georgia". According to the
meaning of this toponym, this is the country of Kartls. Hence, it can extend
only to Kartli, or at best to the Kartli-Kakhetinian kingdom. From XII century
this name already covered some princedoms in the territory of Central
Transcaucasia, but did not survive. The evidence of it is the incorporation
within the structure of Russia of separate kingdoms and princedoms of
Transcaucasia in independent form. As long as Georgia did not lay claim to all
space within Transcaucasia, use of this name was not so essential. In
particular, Abkhazia (which ancient historians also ascribe to Gurdjistan),
was an independent state till VIII century. Then, till XI century, it was a huge
Abkhazian kingdom, and in no way "Georgia". Later, till XIV century it was the
Abkhaz-Imeretian (or vice-versa) kingdom, then, with its disintegration, there
were other independent kingdoms and princedoms, none of which carried the name
"Georgia".
4 The word “Gurdj” is absent both from classical language (in which the Koran
is written), and from modern Arabic (see Arabic-Russian dictionary, Moscow,
2000). If it does have Arab roots, it probably comes from one of their dialects.
M.Fasmer believes that “Georgia is a newly formed Russian word” (see
Etymological dictionary of Russian language, M. Fasmer, 4 volumes, Мoscow, 1986,
V1, p. 464)
At this point it is pertinent to consider the topic of Iveria, as in one of
the periods of XI century in Transcaucasia there occurred a strengthening of
Armenia and the Armenian-Iverian kingdom appeared. At a later time Senkovsky
asked the questions: “Where was Iberia, who were Iberians, and what right do
Georgians have to appropriate this name?” He also answered:
“Attentive reading of the texts of Strabon, Pliny, Dionysius, Ptolemy,
Plutarch, Tatsit and later writers of the classics of antiquity reveals
that Iberia was actually represented by Ossetia, Imeretia, and Radtcha... Also
that Iberian as a nationality never existed... Iberians are the people
nowadays named mountaineers, and they could not represent any nationality”.
Summarising the presented data from annalistic sources, it is possible to
draw the following conclusions:
1) Annalistic materials since VI century report on the country Djurzan,
Gurzan, or Kurdj.
2) In early works, the country of Gurdjes is situated in the northern part
of the territory of Armenia. Further to the north there is a country of
Abkhazians.
3) It is noted that both these states render tribute to the governor of
Tiflis for Caliphs. Hence, to the middle of X century, the territory adjoining
Tiflis was not the land of Gurdjes.
4) In works of VIII century, the lands of Gurdjes territorially reach to the
southern foothills of the Caucasian ridge in the country of Abkhazians,
which borders with Alanians.
5) Annals confirm that the Abkhazian people - Gurdjes - went down
from the mountains to the vicinity of Tiflis in 1122, expelled
Moslems, and began to rule there. This fact is confirmed by medieval history.
6) The medieval history of Transcaucasia confirms the existence during that
time, in the investigated region, of the Abkhazian kingdom, into which entered
the feudal princedoms of Abkhazia, Kakheti, Ereti, and Tao-Klardjeti. No state,
kingdom, princedom, area, tribe etc. with the name "Georgia" is mentioned
as existing at the end of XI century.
7) Analyzing the occurrence of the terms "Georgia" and "Georgians", we are
convinced that mostly they appear incorrectly, often through the
tendentious interpretation of Arab, Greek, Byzantine and other documents by
later translators in ХIХ-ХХ centuries. This has led to the situation that in the
course of formulating history, translators have appeared more influential than
historians.
Shamba T., Neproshin А. Abkhazia: Legal basis of statehood and sovereignty. М: Open Company "In-Oktavo", 2005, 240 pages.
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