Meskheti (Georgian: მესხეთი [me̞s̪χe̞t̪ʰi], Turkish: Meshetya) or Samtskhe (Georgian: სამცხე [s̪ämt̪͡s̪ʰχe̞]), also known as Moschia in ancient sources, is a mountainous area in southwestern Georgia.
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👉 Meskheti in the context of Turkish people
Turks (Turkish: Türkler), or Turkish people, are the largest Turkic ethnic group, comprising the majority of the population of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. They generally speak the various Turkish dialects. In addition, centuries-old ethnic Turkish communities still exist across other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Article 66 of the Constitution of Turkey defines a Turk as anyone who is a citizen of the Turkish state. While the legal use of the term Turkish as it pertains to a citizen of Turkey is different from the term's ethnic definition, the majority of the Turkish population (an estimated 70 to 75 percent) are of Turkish ethnicity. The vast majority of Turks are Sunni Muslims, with a notable minority practicing Alevism.
The ethnic Turks can therefore be distinguished by a number of cultural and regional variants, but do not function as separate ethnic groups. In particular, the culture of the Anatolian Turks in Asia Minor has underlain and influenced the Turkish nationalist ideology. Other Turkish groups include the Rumelian Turks (also referred to as Balkan Turks) historically located in the Balkans; Turkish Cypriots on the island of Cyprus, Meskhetian Turks originally based in Meskheti, Georgia; and ethnic Turkish people across the Middle East, where they are also called Turkmen or Turkoman in the Levant (e.g. Iraqi Turkmen, Syrian Turkmen, Lebanese Turkmen, etc.). Consequently, the Turks form the largest minority group in Bulgaria, the second largest minority group in Iraq, Libya, North Macedonia, and Syria, and the third largest minority group in Kosovo. They also form substantial communities in the Western Thrace region of Greece, the Dobruja region of Romania, the Akkar region in Lebanon, as well as minority groups in other post-Ottoman Balkan and Middle Eastern countries. The mass immigration of Turks also led to them forming the largest ethnic minority group in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. There are also Turkish communities in other parts of Europe as well as in North America, Australia and the Post-Soviet states. Turks are the 13th largest ethnic group in the world.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Meskheti
- 👉 Meskheti in the context of Turkish people
- Meskheti in the context of Turkish Meskhetians
- Meskheti in the context of Meskheti Range
- Meskheti in the context of Samtskhe-Javakheti
- Meskheti in the context of Kingdom of the Iberians
- Meskheti in the context of Moschia
- Meskheti in the context of Tori (Georgia)
Meskheti in the context of Turkish Meskhetians
Meskhetian Turks, also referred to as Turkish Meskhetians, Ahiska Turks, and Turkish Ahiskans, (Turkish: Ahıska Türkleri; Georgian: მესხეთის თურქები Meskhetis turk'ebi) are a subgroup of ethnic Turkish people historically inhabiting the Meskheti region of Georgia, along the border with Turkey. The Turkish presence in Meskheti began with the Ottoman military expedition of 1578, although Turkic tribes had settled in the region as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Today, the Meskhetian Turks are widely dispersed throughout the former Soviet Union (as well as in Turkey and the United States) due to forced deportations during World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Turkish population in Meskheti deemed likely to be hostile to Soviet government intentions. In 1944, the Meskhetian Turks were accused of smuggling, banditry and espionage in collaboration with their kin across the Turkish border. Expelled by Joseph Stalin from Georgia in 1944, they faced discrimination and human-rights abuses before and after deportation. Approximately 115,000 Meskhetian Turks were deported to Central Asia and subsequently only a few hundred have been able to return to Georgia as Georgia does not allow repatriation. Those who migrated to Ukraine in 1990 settled in shanty-towns inhabited by seasonal workers.
Meskheti in the context of Meskheti Range
Meskheti Range (Georgian: მესხეთის ქედი) (Meskh/Meskhet/Meskhetian Range, Adzhar-Imereti Range, Achara-Imereti Range Adzhar-Akhaltsikh Range also Moschian Mountains) is a part of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range in Meskheti region, in southwestern Georgia.
Meskheti in the context of Samtskhe-Javakheti
Samtskhe–Javakheti (Georgian: სამცხე-ჯავახეთი, [s̪ämt̪͡s̪ʰχe̞ d͡ʒäväχet̪ʰi], Armenian: Սամցխե-Ջավախեթի, romanized: Samts’khe-Javakhet’i) is a region (mkhare) in southern Georgia with a population of 147,400 (2023) and an area of 6,413 km (2,476 sq mi). The region has Akhaltsikhe as its administrative center. Samtskhe–Javakheti is made up of the historical Georgian provinces Meskheti, Javakheti and Tori.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the South Caucasus natural gas pipeline, and the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway pass through the region.
Meskheti in the context of Kingdom of the Iberians
The Kingdom of the Iberians (Georgian: ქართველთა სამეფო, romanized: kartvelta samepo) was a medieval Georgian monarchy under the Bagrationi dynasty which emerged circa 888 AD, succeeding the Principality of Iberia, in historical region of Tao-Klarjeti, or upper Iberia in north-eastern Turkey as well parts of modern southwestern Georgia, that stretched from the Iberian gates in the south and to the Lesser Caucasus in the north.
Historically, the area comprised the following historical districts: West of the Arsiani Mountains were Tao, Klarjeti, Nigali, and Shavsheti, to the east lay Meskheti, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani, Abotsi, Kola and Basiani. The landscape is characterised by mountains and the river-systems of the Çoruh and the Kura. The region played a crucial role in the unification of all Georgian lands and principalities into the Kingdom of Georgia in 1008.
Meskheti in the context of Moschia
Moschia (Meskheti, possibly related to Mushki) is a mountainous region of Georgia between Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis. The Moschian Mountains were the connecting chain between the Caucasus and Anti-Taurus Mountains. The people of that area were known as the Moschi. They may have been connected to the Mushki.
Wilhelm Gesenius suggested that the Moschi were descended from the Biblical Meshech tribe.
Meskheti in the context of Tori (Georgia)
Tori (Georgian: თორი [t̪ʰo̞ɾi]) is a historic region in central Georgia, now part of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, together with Javakheti and Meskheti. It borders on Trialeti to the east, Imereti to the northwest and Shida Kartli to the northeast. The province chiefly lay in what is now known as the Borjomi Gorge. In medieval Georgia, Tori was in hereditary possession of the Gamrekeli (Toreli) family. The name "Tori" went obsolete in the 15th century. Around the same time, it became a hereditary fiefdom of the Avalishvili family.