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

… The Svan, the Megrelian and the Laz dialects must be studied
very actively, though not by means of their separation from the mother
language – Georgian and representing them as separate languages, but
by establishing them in accordance with their historicsal status – the dialects
of the Georgian language, as from times immemorial the native
language for the Svans and the Megrels was regarded to be the only one
– the Georgian language, while the Svan, the Megrelian-Laz dialects
were perceived within the Georgian language rather than in parallel with
it.
The Svan and the Zan dialects (not "languages") of the Georgian
language will exist forever, similar to other dialects of the Georgian
language. The Svan, the Megrelian and the Laz dialects represent everlasting
source for further enrichment and development of the Georgian
literary language, a source for searching ancient Georgian words and
roots in the Svan and the Megrelian/Laz those which already disappeared
from literary Georgian, and further, establishing them in modern
literary language.
… In Svaneti and Samegrelo numerous masterpieces of liturgical
and secular literature or other pieces of art were created (Metropolitan
Anania Japaridze, 2009; Gasviani, 2004; Silogava, 2006) and the representatives
of the very regions were those among the architects of revival
and development of statehood of Georgia. The most prominent state
figures as Kuji Eristavi and Ioane Marushiani could be provided as an
example. If such remarkable figures had not regarded the Georgian language
as their mother tongue, they would somehow achieve assignment
of the language status to the Zan-Svan dialects; thus they would not become
the leaders and creators of the integrity of the country.
It is very natural and desirable that such recent tragic events as the
Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 help adequately perceive out
past, so that to become free Kartvelology of the Tsarist and Soviet ideological
legacy, to revive historical justice as well as forcedly broken
connection with the past, due to the Soviet regime.
Unfortunatelly, international directories and encyclopedias mainly
display only the soviet qualifications of language affiliation of the
Georgians. As a result, on the basis of "4/3 Kartvelian language", the
Svans and the Megrels are considered as separate ethnic groups not only
by the Russian but also the European scientists who focus on works of
the Soviet linguists. For instance, main ethnological encyclopedia of the
World Wide Web provides information according to which the ethnoses
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