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

It is well known that the Armenian ethnic group currently compactly
residing in Samtkhe-Javakheti and Trialeti is not a historical, autochthonous
population 391 ; the Armenians who were evicted from the
Turkey-controlled territories were settled by the Russian empire in this
region of Georgia in 1828-1830 392
; thus, this ethnic group could not be
regarded as a historical minority of Georgia, neither its language could
be considered as a language of Georgia’s non-principal ethnic minority
– a language which as a cultural phenomenon is threatened. The Armenian
language is a state language in the neighbouring Armenia.
Azeris cannot be considered as an autochthonous, historical population
in Southern Georgia:
th
It is known that at the beginning of the 17 century the Turkman
tribe Borchalu 393
settled in one of the historical Georgian regions –
Kvemo Kartli (Lower Kartli), in Debeda gorge. A language of this ethnic
group is also a state language in the neighbouring Azerbaijan and
Turkey; accordingly, neither Azeri (Turkish) can be regarding as such
regional language of autochthonous population that must be covered by
Part III of the Charter.
The issue of the Ossetian language must be discussed separately:
According to the 1904 "Russian Encyclopedia" (p. 1590) the
Ossetians lived near Mozdok – in the middle course of the River Tergi
and on the Northern and central slopes of Caucasus mountains (total
391 According to Kartlis Tskhovreba (“Life of Kartli”), the Armenian language is one of
the ancient languages extant in Georgia; In the opion of the large part of the scientists
(R. Gordeziani, A. Japaridze, J. Kashia, M. Tabidze, R. Abashia, etc.), the Urartian language
was meant in the mentioned “Armenian language” (for the history of the issue see
T. Putkaradze, The Georgians, 2005, p. 204; according to the unproved assumption,
compactly settled Armenian diaspora existed in antique and Hellenistic Mtskheta (M.
Kurdiani, Georgian language and writing, 2008, p. 10). There is not a single source to
confirm that the compact Armenian settlements existed in Georgia in antique and Hellenistic
periods. For the issue of settlement of Armenians in Georgia 180 years ago and
the academic discussion regarding the status of the Armenian language see: M. Tabidze,
Linguistic situation in Georgia and the issues of functioning of the Georgian Language,
Tbilisi, 2005, pp. 77-97, 172, 229-230.
392 R. Topchishvili, Ethnography of the Peoples of Caucasus, Tbilisi, 2007, p. 329.
393 R. Topchishvili, Ethnography of the Peoples of Caucasus, Tbilisi, 2007, p. 306.
322