Assyrians in Georgia - History

History

Historically, the first Assyrians arrived in Georgia in the 6th century A.D. when 13 Assyrian monks (historically known by the Georgians as the 13 saint Assyrian fathers) from the city of Edessa came to Georgia and establish 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 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 of present-day Turkey. In April 1770, Georgian troops, under Russian command, headed towards the city of Akhaltsikhe. At the same time, Assyrian Bishop Isaiah left Tbilisi and carried letters to Assyrian and Yezidi leaders which the Georgian king invited them to fight together against the Ottomans. The Assyrians and Yezidi were prepared to move against the Ottomans, whenever the support from Erekle II arrived, but Russian General Totleben changed his mind and turned his detachment back to Kartli.

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 from Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The second wave of Assyrian immigrants came when Russia signed a 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 and became Russian and later 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 1917, as Assyrians fled from the Ottoman massacre (see Assyrian genocide).