The Republic of Georgia is an avowedly Christian country, but one out of every ten Georgian citizens is Muslim. Eye-catching headlines in recent months have touched on the ethnic Chechen and Kist villages of Pankisi Gorge in the country’s north-west. A small number of residents have left for Iraq and Syria, to fight and die for ISIS. But the story of Islam in Georgia today neither begins nor ends with foreign jihad.
Likewise, the Autonomous Republic of Adjara on the Black Sea coast in western Georgia is home to a large and much overlooked Muslim community. The last official census in 2002 showed that 30% (115,000) of Adjarans considered themselves Muslim, and 64% (240,000) – Orthodox Christians.
Unlike Azeris, Chechens or Kists, Adjaran Muslims are ethnic Georgians, living in a country where Islam is seen by many as a hostile religion. Georgia’s Muslim community must repeatedly prove its loyalty to both the Georgian nation and Islamic faith and culture every day; no mean feat, given the widely differing expectations that entails.
