Ajaria << uh JAHR ee uh >>, also spelled Adzharia or Adjaria, is a mountainous region in southwest Georgia. The Black Sea borders the region to the west, and Turkey borders it to the south. The port city of Batumi serves as the region’s capital.
In 2002, the population of Ajaria was about 376,000. The Ajars belong to the Georgian ethnic group. Most Georgians are Christians and belong to an Eastern Orthodox church. However, the Ajars are Muslims—that is, they practice Islam. About 65 percent of the region’s population are Eastern Orthordox Georgians, and about 30 percent are Muslim Ajars. Most of the rest of the people are Abkhazians, Armenians, Greeks, and Russians.
Batumi’s port handles goods shipped throughout the Black Sea region. Refineries in Batumi process oil transported from the Caspian Sea. In rural Ajaria, farmers grow tea, citrus fruits, and other crops.
The Ottoman Empire ruled Ajaria from the 1600’s to the late 1800’s. The Ottomans forced the region’s people to convert from Christianity to Islam. In 1878, the Russian Empire took control of Ajaria.
Revolutions in the early 1900’s brought Communists to power in Russia and Georgia. In 1921, Ajaria became the Ajarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. The two regions became part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) when it was formed in 1922.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Georgia became an independent country. Around that time, violence and ethnic conflict broke out in parts of Georgia that desired their own independence. Ajaria did not experience such disturbances because the Ajars saw themselves as Georgians.
In 1991, Aslan Abashidze began ruling Ajaria as chairman of the region’s parliament. He continued to rule after he was elected to the newly created post of president of Ajaria in 2001. Abashidze’s reign brought stability and growth to the region, but government corruption was a problem. Abashidze frequently clashed with Georgia’s central government as he sought to increase his control over Ajaria.
In 2004, the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, warned Abashidze to recognize the authority of the central government. Saakashvili threatened to use military force if Abashidze did not obey. Faced with Saakashvili’s warnings and large public demonstrations against his rule, Abashidze resigned in May 2004. The Georgian government then eliminated the post of president of Ajaria and restricted the powers of Ajaria’s regional government.
