"evropuli qartia saqarTvelo "European Charter for Regional or ...

mixed words from Khevsurian, Imeretian, Kartlian-Kakhetian and Megrelian-Gurian
dialects into my lexicon. I regarded it necessary to advance
a slogan on collecting the (differing) lexicon of Georgian tribes
and the very first time my attempt was reflected in "Smile of Dioniso"
and in my novels… development of the literary Georgian cannot be
based only on outer borrowing – barbarisms; the most important is the
inner borrowing", collecting new and unused lexical materials from Georgian
dialects, Svan-Chan and Odishi dialects…" (Konstantine Gamsakhurdia,
eight volumes, 1980, vol. V, pp. 995-956) 266
.
Due to the fact that in 1999 Georgia became a member of the Council of
Europe and our country has undertaken an obligation to join the charter entitled
"European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" within the period of
one year, it is therefore necessary at least today to provide the international
community with the depoliticized and academic history of Georgia.
Moreover, it is necessary to inform the civilized world about the demographic
expansion carried out by Russia in Georgia; namely:
th
- in 19 century by so-called Muhajirism Russia carried out the genocide
of Georgians in Southern Georgia and Apkhazeti: colonized Armenians
and Russian in this Georgian region… by the Russian-Georgian 1992-2008
266 When discussing K. Gamsakhurdia’s views on the Kartvelian Linguistic world, it
seems necessary to consider the period and circumstances when these letters were written
(or the speeches were presented), ref;ecting the professional discussion of a writer
on the literarylanguage and dialects. This is a period of 1930-1950-s when the Russian
Bolshevik-Communit regime experienced the most active period: the national-liberating
revolt has already been suppressed; the Georgian (/Kartvelian) Christian churches and
monasteries have been destroyed, the victims of “dekulakization” and “people’s enemies”,
in fact faultless population and intelligentsia have been either executed by shooting
or forcedly resettled to Siberia. Moreover, Georgian “government” had passed a
resolution dated 1929, accroding to which the Megrelian “language” had to be eomployed
at public institutions (such schools, court, media, etc.); the book written in “Megrelian
words” by I. Zvania, the activist Bolshevik, was published in 30 thousand copies;
several magazines and newspapers have been published in “Megrelian language”; in
the same period the term “Kartvelian languages” has already been established in Kartvelology;
it considered fragmentation of the Georgian linguistic space into three-four
parts. Such fragmentation of the Kartvelian linguistic world was unacceptable for K.
Gamsakhurdia (as it is witnessed in his literary works) – a citizen and a writer who was
well-versed in linguistics. In any case, the writer, neither in literary works nor in critical
letters, acknowledges the languages entities (known as “Kartvelian languages) to be
languages. For him the Kartvelian (=Georgian) world was one and indivisible.
225