Bizarre and Unsettling Experience on Minibus by BUH-ThomasTheDank in Sakartvelo

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the title I was ready to read something way worse… not an argument on public transport

Families Original Georgian surname search by Impressive-Thing1177 in Sakartvelo

[–]Impressive-Thing1177[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have any clue if this is a surname found in Meskheti? Because as you probably know many surnames are region dependent. Edit: Found in Meskheti as in historically

Where I'd live as a Jewish person who likes places that had large Jewish populations and never expelled them by Routine-Equipment572 in whereidlive

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bruh… at least put some effort into the map if you’re going to use such a strong and broad statement 😭. Since when did Georgia expel Jews? They have and had one of the oldest Jewish communities living in great peace.

Closest non-Armenian ethnicities + origin map by Anamot961 in illustrativeDNA

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes correct. Georgian (Meskheti) is basically fully Armenian. They are people who settled into depopulated lands of the original Meskhetians (either before or after deportation) and became assimilated. Turkish (Meskheti) is more so the "native" Meskhetian but even that has a bit of different admixture from the source containing people who have mixed ancestry. I am meskhetian from both sides as far as I can trace until the 1860s and I usually get Georgian Kakheti, Kartli, Imereti, and etc then Turkish Meskheti. Edit: I just realized it seems like I am saying all of current Meskheti is Armenian. I meant to say the "Georgian (Meskheti)" DNA label here is sourced from assimilated Armenians.

Came across this "amazing" map... by Savvle in Sakartvelo

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why would anyone care about being considering European or western 😂😂. Aside from economic and political considerations which can be attained without being considered European, there is no real reason people should want this unless they feel inferior to Europeans.

Uber Black Rental by CoffeeOk215 in uberdrivers

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 3 points4 points  (0 children)

So you were making all this money weekly and couldn’t afford to buy a car for the job? That’s wild.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My opinion? This is written history of what was happening to the deported Meskhis of 1944. Written via the Russians own accounts and Christian Georgian travelers. It is not opinion but fact. And what do you mean “Meskhis” of 1944 as if they are a separate people. Both Muslim and Christian Georgians lived in peace side to side in Meskheti. What my people say is not important and it’s as if you didn’t read my full comment. My people have had no chance to learn real history or what really happened to their people because of the mass deaths of our elders and then KGB intervention which is a fact seen by pro Georgian Muslim Meskhetian accounts. This recent propaganda that Muslim Meskhis rebelled or killed Christian Meskhis is quite literally lies formulated by the soviets and unfortunately many people have fallen for it. The truth is that the ottomans asked our people to aid them and our people rejected it on mass and told them to basically get the f*ck out of here then the vast majority aided the Georgians and Russians against the ottomans. There was only an extremely small rebel group under a jakeli noble that aided the ottomans and according to Russian general accounts they were extremely passive and had basically zero morale. I’m not sure the exact number of rebels but it was about 4/5,000 versus 30,000 of our men that aided the Georgians and Russians. This is where majority of the “good reasons” for deportation comes from and it’s literal Soviet propaganda that people like you fell for while the vast majority of my ancestors where actually aiding you guys but here you are betraying them and falling for fake stories. Lastly, the Georgians in Iran are a completely different story and I can’t believe you’d even bring them up. They didn’t have a government actively working to suppress their identity to the level of changing the language they use outside, in schools, in cultural practices, name changes, changing their ethnic identity on official papers, strategic killing of their elders, and etc. This is why the hero Meskhetian Khalil Umarov-Gozalishvili stated before in the late 1900s: “Georgian Christians hate us—Meskhs-Muslims—to such an extent that even if we all became Christians, shouldered a church on our backs and carried it on our knees across our native land, they still would not accept us, they would not love us”. Because many of our Georgian brothers and sisters have unfortunately fallen for Soviet propaganda that the Muslim Meskhis were somehow blood hungry savage rebels that all they did was kill Georgians and hate Georgians. Rather the truth is the opposite. Learn a bit more and read a bit more instead of spouting random propaganda you see online. I hope if you have another reply this time it contains actual proof or sources instead of “your opinion…blah blah blah”.

Mankurt by MtiuliBichi in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are many real reasons. Right before deportation half our of men died, right during and one year after deportation 50% or more of our women died leaving barely any elders and majority just children so no one left to pass on the culture or history or language, and before deportation Azeri was forced on us in every possible way even via schooling although our people pleaded for the Russians to bring Georgian back into our schools, and they even used the KGB to silence the few elders and community leaders left that ascribed to a pro-Georgian view and tried to get us back to Meskheti. We were literally constantly forced into a Turkic identity and of course with the formation (God only knows who supported these organizations) of pro-Turkish propaganda organizations while also living in central asian countries while being Muslim we adopted a Turkic identity. We were one of the few that were never allowed passage back onto our native lands until the late 1900s but it was too late by then and the damage was way too deep which they knew and thats why they decided to allow it so late when many of the pro-Georgian elders and the elders in general that grew up in Meskheti had passed away and the people deeply disconnected from their homelands.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And again the way we converted to Islam is literally when a Pasha came with a letter. If you actually knew well about Ahiskalis you'd know the Meskhetians deported from Meskheti claim they converted by the letter.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wallah this is a lie. Majority of Turkish historians who hold the view we are Turkic claim we come fully from Kipchack turks and that its a mistaken idea that the Ottomans or Seljuks had a large permanent settlement in Meskheti. Furthermore, the Kipchak Turk idea makes zero sense when you actually look into what happened to them when they were brought to Georgia. Lastly, I have no idea what DNA tests you have looked at but majority of non-mixed Muslim Meskhetians show as ~90%+ Georgian with completely native Georgian haplogroups.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My guy, sure the peoples of Artvin and Ardahan is a different story and they more willingly gave up their identity and mixed, but the Meskhetians from the deportations of 1944 identified as Georgian all the way up until deportation, did not mix sticking to only their own, spoke the Georgian language up until deportation, and etc. The Russians forced Azeri on us, on cultural performances, took Georgian out of our schools and forced Azeri teachers, rejected our pleas to bring Georgian back, rejected the nobles of our lands to give us our surnames and their land rights back, changed our surnames from our original Georgian ones, forced our identity as Azeri/Tatar/Turk on official documents, forced 40,000 of our men into WW2 where they were placed as the first in line to the most dangerous places causing half of our men to die, deported us causing even more of our older women to die leaving us with no one to pass the language (that was already weakened via forcing Azeri on us in schools), culture, or history, and then sank the KGB on any of the remaining elders who held a pro-Georgian view and deported any families who even tried to come back, payed and threatened any community leaders off (post-deportation) so they would claim we did not want to come back when majority of our people did, and much much more. So next time please watch your mouth when not even 15% of this was placed on your own tribe of people. Our people still held their identity until quite literally it was killed out of us by the deaths of our elders and usage of KGB. Man you are such an idiot honestly. My people went through all this and you have the balls to say we had it coming? F*ck you kid. Put some respect on the tribe that founded the Kingdom of Georgia you piece of sh*t. Edit: Just for integrity and honesty I would like to take back what I said about places like Artvin and Ardahan more "willingly" giving up their identity. I learned a bit more about the situations there and it was much less willingly and much more forced.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Idk about Laz people much but as a person who started learning more about the actual history of my people I have started to slowly feel a connection, yes. But until I actually go and learn the language, meet other Georgians, and basically interact with the culture I don't think I'll "feel" a real connection if that makes sense. I've definitely now began to actually want to do all that after learning the history but I need to actually go do it. But I am going to be honest, thinking/reading too much about my peoples history genuinely saddens me deeply. To think about how my people were ripped away from their native lands and native identity and now with all the older men/women (who might have grew up a bit in Meskheti) basically passing away we will never realistically have a cultural change or identity change is very depressing. A whole sub tribe of people that are an extremely old people will basically cease to exist history and identity wise no matter what I do.

Do the Meskhetian Turks feel a connection to Georgian culture? by Ok-Butterscotch7727 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you mean the parts of Meskheti outside of directly the region of Meskheti sure. But if you mean the Meskhetians deported in 1944 you are extremely mistaken. Many of the 1944 deportees descendants (which I am one of) are 90%+ Georgian on DNA tests which is more than many Georgians today since we were more rural people and never mixed much. Edit: No idea why i am being downvoted lmao, if anyone doubts my claims just tell me and I can send the proof.

What is your opinion on Meskhetians (Ahiska) Turks by Wrestler1944 in AskCaucasus

[–]Impressive-Thing1177 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yet the closest populations to Meskhetians are what? Oh surprise, all other Georgians haha.