[31][347][348][349] Local traditions associated with wine are entwined with its national identity. [208] Georgian opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said the accusations of planning a coup were baseless, and that the protesters' actions were legitimate. [98] Abkhaz forces opened a second front on 9 August by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia. [48][49], David suppressed dissent of feudal lords and centralized the power in his hands to effectively deal with foreign threats. [259] Georgia was ranked 63rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 48th in 2019. [337], The Georgian language, and the Classical Georgian literature of the poet Shota Rustaveli, were revived in the 19th century after a long period of turmoil, laying the foundations of the romantics and novelists of the modern era such as Grigol Orbeliani, Nikoloz Baratashvili, Ilia Chavchavadze, Akaki Tsereteli, and Vazha-Pshavela. [82], He was soon deposed in a bloody coup d'tat, from 22 December 1991 to 6 January 1992. The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range plays an important role in moderating Georgia's climate and protects the nation from the penetration of colder air masses from the north. 1. [citation needed], Religious minorities of Georgia include Muslims (10.7 per cent), Armenian Christians (2.9 per cent) and Roman Catholics (0.5 per cent). In the early 9th century the Abkhazian Church broke away from Constantinople and recognized the authority of the Catholicate of Mtskheta; the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy and culture. The Georgian government fled to France where it operated until the early 1930s. But the recognition proved to be of little value, as the Red Army led by Joseph Stalin invaded Georgia in 1921 and formally annexed it into the Soviet Union in 1922.[73]. [229] A number of large carnivores live in the forests, namely Brown bears, wolves, lynxes and Caucasian Leopards. [195], Prior to the Rose Revolution, Georgia was among the most corrupt countries in the world. [citation needed], Coordinates: 4200N 4330E / 42.000N 43.500E / 42.000; 43.500. [267] Other tourist attractions are Cave City, Ananuri Castle/Church, Sighnaghi and Mount Kazbek. In addition, 435 were wounded, including 35 amputees. The coup was instigated by part of the National Guards and a paramilitary organization called "Mkhedrioni" ("horsemen"). [103] According to Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer, the Ossetian provocation was aimed at triggering the Georgian response, which was needed as a pretext for premeditated Russian military invasion. temple emanuel denver calendar. Officially autonomous within Georgia,[216] the de facto independent region of Abkhazia declared independence in 1999. [15] Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians gurn, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-n/gurz-iyn and Arabic uran/urzan. The country then became embroiled in a bitter civil war, which lasted until nearly 1994. [225] Historically, the western portion of Georgia was known as Colchis while the eastern plateau was called Iberia.[226]. Dinamo Tbilisi won the prestigious Euroleague competition in 1962. The region between Kazbek and Shkhara (a distance of about 200km (124mi) along the Main Caucasus Range) is dominated by numerous glaciers. Archaeological research demonstrates that Georgia has been involved in commerce with many lands and empires since ancient times, largely due its location on the Black Sea and later on the historical Silk Road. In 2016, 2,714,773 tourists brought approximately US$2.16billion to the country. In 2019, Georgia ranked 61st on the Human Development Index (HDI). [255] Since 2014, unemployment has been gradually decreasing each year but remained in double digits and worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by a powerful military lite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated the Caucasus, and extended over large parts of present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, and eastern Turkey as well as parts of northern Iran,[53] until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death in 1213.[54]. The Likhi Range divides the country into eastern and western halves. [59], In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, by which Georgia abjured any dependence on Persia or another power, and made the kingdom a protectorate of Russia, which guaranteed Georgia's territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs. [297] Of the Meskhetian Turks who were forcibly relocated in 1944, only a tiny fraction returned to Georgia as of 2008[update]. The government of Georgia is carried out under a semi-presidential representative democracy. [65][66] The Bagrationi royal family was deported from the kingdom. They are collectively known as the Georgian Defense Forces (GDF). There are also smaller communities of Greek Muslims (of Pontic Greek origin) and Armenian Muslims, both of whom are descended from Ottoman-era converts to Turkish Islam from Eastern Anatolia who settled in Georgia following the Lala Mustafa Pasha's Caucasian campaign that led to the Ottoman conquest of the country in 1578. [196] However, following the reforms brought by the peaceful revolution, the level of corruption in the country abated dramatically. [189][190], In Georgia, law enforcement is conducted and provided for by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Russia, on the east and southeast by Azerbaijan, on the south by Armenia and Turkey, and on the west by the Black Sea. On 26 May 2012, Saakashvili inaugurated a new Parliament building in the western city of Kutaisi, in an effort to decentralize power and shift some political control closer to Abkhazia. [1] The party is member of Union of Communist Parties Communist Party of the Soviet Union . For the U.S. state, see. [281][c] The Georgian Jews are one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Margvelashvili succeeded president Mikheil Saakashvili, who had served the maximum of two terms since coming to power after the bloodless 2003 "Rose Revolution". [242][243] The World Bank dubbed Georgia "the number one economic reformer in the world" because it has in one year improved from rank 112th to 18th in terms of ease of doing business,[244] and by 2020 further improved its position to 6th in the world. [281][c] The population declined by 40,000 in 2021, a reversal of the trend towards stabilisation of the last decade and, for the first time since independence, the population was recorded to be below 3.7 million. [275] There are a number of seaports along Georgia's Black Sea coast, the largest and most busy of which is the Port of Batumi; whilst the town is itself a seaside resort, the port is a major cargo terminal in the Caucasus and is often used by neighbouring Azerbaijan as a transit point for making energy deliveries to Europe. [33] In the 4th century BC, a kingdom of Iberia an early example of advanced state organization under one king and an aristocratic hierarchy was established. The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range forms the northern border of Georgia. [100] However, escalating assaults against Georgian villages (located in the South Ossetian conflict zone) were soon matched with gunfire from Georgian troops,[101][102] who then proceeded to move in the direction of the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) on the night of 8 August, reaching its centre in the morning of 8 August. Formerly Communist countries (by current name): Formerly part of the Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. But the nonprofit organization was accused in Georgia courts of being a communist front, and King's inner circle considered it radical. [118] In response to Russia's recognition, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. The alphabet probably was created soon afterward to . Between 2000 and 2019, Georgia's HDI score improved by 17.7%. [82] Supported by Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved de facto independence from Georgia, with Georgia retaining control only in small areas of the disputed territories. [338], Georgian architecture has been influenced by many civilizations. [citation needed] The military budget of Georgia for 2021 is 900 ($280) million. "[172], George W. Bush became the first sitting US president to visit the country. Much of eastern Georgia experiences hot summers (especially in the low-lying areas) and relatively cold winters. [299][300][301][302][303][304] The official languages of Georgia are Georgian, with Abkhaz having official status within the autonomous region of Abkhazia. Michael W. Hughey, Springer, Mar 29, 2016. [126] Saakashvili's rivals, who came to power later in 2012, never truly accepted the move to Kutaisi and six years later Parliament returned to its old location in Tbilisi after adapting the constitutional clause. [344] The Georgian folk song "Chakrulo" was one of 27 musical compositions included on the Voyager Golden Records that were sent into space on Voyager 2 on 20 August 1977. It was the last direct election of a Georgian president, as additional constitutional reforms removed the popular vote. [351], The most popular sports in Georgia are football, basketball, rugby union, wrestling, judo, and weightlifting. His regime is known as one of the most brutal in world history; tens of millions of . [119] Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October, and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia was dispatched to the buffer areas. The medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize cannabis, becoming the only former-socialist state to do so. [35][36] From the first centuries AD, the cult of Mithras, pagan beliefs, and Zoroastrianism were commonly practised in Georgia. In 1992 Burkhard Herbote, a VP for the World Tourism . Brief on Georgia. ", "Ruling party in Georgia decisively wins parliament vote", "Georgian government offers concessions to end crisis", "Transparency International urges dialogue with civil society during political crisis in Georgia", "Georgian Dream, Opposition Reach Consensus over Electoral Reform", "Georgia elects Salome Zurabishvili as first woman president", "Georgia protests: Tbilisi police fire water cannon at demonstrators", "New EU Proposal: Amnesty for Rurua, Melia, 2022 Snap Polls if GD Gets Less than 43% in Locals", "President Michel to Start Consultations after GD's EU-Brokered Deal Withdrawal", "Mikheil Saakashvili: Georgian ex-president arrested returning from exile", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and the Republic of France", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and the State of Israel", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and Japan", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Visa Information for Foreign Citizens", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and the Republic of Turkey", "Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Relations between Georgia and Ukraine", "Relations Between Georgia and the United States of America", "U.S. The 2010 Russian census recorded about 158,000 ethnic Georgians living in Russia,[293] with approximately 40,000 living in Moscow by 2014. The first attempt to unite the country occurred under King Parnavaz of Kartli at the beginning of the third century B.C.E. There is an independent human rights public defender elected by the Parliament of Georgia to ensure such rights are enforced. COVID-19 Travel restrictions for Georgia As of June 15th 2022, Citizens of any foreign countries, traveling to Georgia via any route, are no longer obliged to present either Covid-vaccination certificate or PCR-examination negative result For more information, visit the Georgia official governmental site. In 1921, communist Russia launched a new military campaign against Georgia and conquered the country in fierce battles, annexing it to the Soviet Union. Thereafter, the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under the hegemony of various regional powers, including the Mongols, the Turks, and various dynasties of Persia. [334][335][336][337] This self-identity is stronger among the dominant ethnic Georgian population than in the country's minority groups. Georgia is the official host country at ITB Berlin 2023. In 2007, Georgia's real GDP growth rate reached 12 per cent, making Georgia one of the fastest-growing economies in Eastern Europe. [227], The west-central slopes of the Meskheti Range in Ajaria as well as several locations in Samegrelo and Abkhazia are covered by temperate rain forests. In 1783, one of the Georgian kingdoms entered into an alliance with the Russian Empire, which proceeded to annex the territory of modern Georgia in a piecemeal fashion throughout the 19th century. [51] She succeeded in neutralizing opposition and embarked on an energetic foreign policy aided by the downfall of the rival powers of the Seljuks and Byzantium. Georgia is a representative democracy governed as a unitary parliamentary republic. Alexander Mikaberidze wrote that these century-old explanations for the word Georgia/Georgians are rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian word gur/gurn (, 'wolf'[17]) as the root of the word. [310], The special status of the Georgian Orthodox Church is officially recognized in the Constitution of Georgia and the Concordat of 2002, although religious institutions are separate from the state. Saakashvili led the country from 2004 to 2013 but was later convicted in absentia on corruption charges and abuse of power, which he denied. The Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of speech. "[213] With this ruling, Georgia became one of the first countries in the world to legalize cannabis, although using the drug in the presence of children is still illegal and punishable by fines or imprisonment. Throughout the remainder of the Soviet period, Georgia's economy continued to grow and experience significant improvement, though it increasingly exhibited blatant corruption and alienation of the government from the people. [114] In an interview published in Kommersant, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said he would not allow Georgians to return. [61] Despite a punitive campaign subsequently launched against Qajar Iran in 1796, this period culminated in the 1801 Russian violation of the Treaty of Georgievsk and annexation of eastern Georgia, followed by the abolition of the royal Bagrationi dynasty, as well as the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Thousands of people gathered outside the Central Election Commission to demand a new vote. (1996). Communism is both a political system and an economic one. "It's a communist regime. Unified Communist Party of Georgia. By the 1980s, an independence movement emerged and grew quickly, leading to Georgia's secession from the Soviet Union in April 1991. "[128] In their 2022 report[update] Freedom House lists Georgia as a partly free country, recognizing a trajectory of democratic improvement surrounding the 201213 transfer of power, yet observing a gradual backslide in later years. Despite the Soviet takeover, Zhordania was recognized as the legitimate head of the Georgian Government by France, UK, Belgium, and Poland through the 1930s. [200] Since 2016 the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index hovers around 56 out of 100 points. [199] Since 2012 stagnation in corruption fighting efforts can be observed, according to Transparency International. Georgia has become more integrated into the global trading network: its 2015 imports and exports account for 50% and 21% of GDP respectively. Georgia is developing into an international transport corridor through Batumi and Poti ports, BakuTbilisiKars Railway line, an oil pipeline from Baku through Tbilisi to Ceyhan, the BakuTbilisiCeyhan pipeline (BTC) and a parallel gas pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline. Lore-based theories were given by the traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George amongst Georgians,[16] while traveller Jean Chardin thought that Georgia came from Greek ('tiller of the land'). by Juergen T Steinmetz. [346], Georgia is one of the oldest wine-producing countries in the world. Beginning in 2007, politicians here have been debating whether or not to change the governmental framework to a constitutional monarchy. [134] Due to the incomplete transition to parliamentary democracy, a year of uneasy cohabitation between rivals Ivanishvili and Saakashvili followed until the October 2013 presidential elections. Peter Lang. The following four universities are also located in Tbilisi: Georgian Technical University,[324] which is Georgia's main and largest technical university, The University of Georgia (Tbilisi),[325] as well as Caucasus University[326] and Free University of Tbilisi. Notable painters from the 20th century include Niko Pirosmani, Lado Gudiashvili, Elene Akhvlediani; notable ballet choreographers include George Balanchine, Vakhtang Chabukiani, and Nino Ananiashvili; notable poets include Galaktion Tabidze, Lado Asatiani, and Mukhran Machavariani; and notable theatre and film directors include Robert Sturua, Tengiz Abuladze, Giorgi Danelia, and Otar Ioseliani. In general, the forests in eastern Georgia occur between 5002,000 metres (1,6406,562ft) above sea level, with the alpine zone extending from 2,0002,300 to 3,0003,500 metres (6,5627,546 to 9,84311,483ft). With the completed transfer of power, Prime Minister Ivanishvili stepped aside and named one of his close business associates as next Prime Minister. [266] According to the government, there are 103 resorts in different climatic zones in Georgia. [316][317] Education in Georgia is mandatory for all children aged 614. For example, in its 2017 report, Council of Europe observed that while most day-to-day corruption has been eliminated, there are some indications of a "clientelistic system" whereby the country's leadership may allocate resources in ways that generate the loyalty and support it needs to stay in power. [88], The country's newly pro-Western stance, along with accusations of Georgian involvement in the Second Chechen War,[89] resulted in a severe deterioration of relations with Russia, fuelled also by Russia's open assistance and support to the two secessionist areas. In 1121, he decisively defeated much larger Turkish armies during the Battle of Didgori and liberated Tbilisi. The high-water mark of Communist activity in Georgia occurred in the early 1930s, when the state's economy was suffering from the ravages of the Great Depression. [citation needed] The overall region can be characterized as being made up of various, interconnected mountain ranges (largely of volcanic origin) and plateaus that do not exceed 3,400 metres (11,155ft) in elevation. [239] Throughout Georgia's modern history agriculture and tourism have been principal economic sectors, because of the country's climate and topography. Georgia was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, alongside Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 1921 which in 1922 would become a founding member of the Soviet Union.