Actual Problems of Kartvelology and Objectives of the Kartvelological Centre of Saint Andrew the First-Called Georgian University of the Patriarchate of Georgia

Abstract

A great empire has a lot of impressive resources for planning and managing according to its own interests science on the conquered small nations as well. Unfortunately, Kartvelology could not have escaped such impacts either. Like other disciplines, Kartvelology has developed intensively during the last two centuries. Over that period Georgia was mostly annexed by the Russian Empire, respectively, over the last 150 years two radically different approaches towards planning and development of Kartvelology have clearly taken shape: 1. Quasi-Kartvelology oriented on the geopolitical interests of the empire; 2. Scholarly Kartvelology oriented on the vital interests of the Georgian nation. By means of distortion of the linguistic-ethnic history of the Georgian nation and the political history of Georgia /fabrication of anti-Georgian historicalgeographical ideologemes and an attempt of linguistic-ethnic disintegration of the Georgians/, imperial powers wish to separate Georgian regions and to create a frail state of a confederation type instead of the unitary state of Georgia. The leaders of the Russian empire declare openly that their objective is final disintegration of Georgia, final annexation of the marginal regions and restoration of the geopolitical control in Central Caucasia A brief historical excursus: Falsification of the linguistic-ethnic history of the Georgian nation actively occurs from the 1840s, namely: In 1801-1839 by the violation of the agreements concluded with the Georgian kingdoms and principalities and through the use of military force, the Russian Empire annexed Georgia / enemy coming as a friend"/. From 1840, after the introduction of the institution of viceroy, the Empire established in Georgia a civil government and for the purpose of distrupting the linguistic-ethnic unity of the Georgian nation /"divide and rule"/ began to proclaim a part of the Georgians as non-Georgians, to limit the area of functioning of the Georgian language and to expel the Georgian language from the Orthodox Church of Georgia /in this respect, Kiril Yanovski, an official of the Russian Empire, was especially active/. To oppose the imperial policy, from the 1860s the generation of Ilia Chavchavadze started active struggle to defend the vital interests of the nation. The question of the Georgian language - the symbol of the national culture and unity of the Georgians acquired special importance: the empire banned the Georgian language from all fields of human creation: from the divine service, literary writing, science, schools of all levels. Exactly at that period translation of the Holy Scripture into Megrelain and Svan began. By the struggle of its worthy sons the nation resisted the powers wishing to humiliate the Georgian language culture. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries this opposition was embodied by two well-known clelrgymen: Ambrosi Khelaia and Ivan Vostorgov. In particular: Ambrosi Khelaia, a great father, brought up in Samegrelo, subsequently the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, defended the Georgian language in centuries- old churches of Samegrelo and other areas of Georgia. Ivan Vostorgov, a Russian priest, subsequently a famous political figure, sought to expel the Georgian language from the Georgian Apostolic Church. Namely, in historic areas of Georgia - Samegrelo, Svaneti and Abkhazia - he tried to replace the Georgian language, the traditional language of divine service, with local dialects, in fact, with the Russian language. From the 1910s-20s the struggle for the Georgian language intensified further: two well-known scholars Ivane Javakhishvili and Nicholas Marr sharply opposed one another from the veiwpoint of the role of the Georgian language and planning of Kartvelology. In particular, Nicholas Marr, defending interests of the Russian Academy of Sciences, denied the Georgian language as the language of science and education, whereas Ivane Javakhishvili, continuing the path of the great ancestors, tried to revive the 15-century-old educational and scientific tradition of the Georgian language3. There was also a sharp confrontation between Nicholas Marr and Ivane Javakhishvili concerning the necessity of the Georgian University and the qualification of the Kartevlian linguistic world. Over the short period of independence of Georgia the “Georgian Free University" was founded in Tbilisi under the leadership of the Ivane Javakhishvili (10.05.1917) and scholarly Kartvelology began to develop at rapid pace. This process was hindered by the conquering of Georgia by Soviet Russia. The authorities of Soviet Empire, created by Joseph Stalin, turned into the official position of the state the provisions politicized by tsarist Russia and wrapped in scholarly terminology by Nicholas Marr, according to which, the population of Samegrelo and Svaneti was declared as having no writing4; as a result, the status of the so-called unwritten languages was established for Megrelian, Laz and Svan5. In parallel, at first Ivane Javakhishvili was dismissed from the post of the rector (and later was expelled from the university founded by him), and subsequently the Georgian University founded by Ivane Javakhishvili and other great figures was dissolved totally /1930/. Three years later the communist government of the empire founded (1933) in fact a new state university, which was purposefully turned into a stronghold of politicized Kartvelology. However, by the efforts of well-known researchers a lot of scholarly Kartvelological projects were implemented even at this type of university. Favourable conditions for the revival of scholarly Kartvelology emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union, when on the basis of a general public referendum on April 9, 1991 the Republic of Georgia declared the restoration of its independence. In 1991 the authorities of Georgia announced that from 1801 until 1991 Georgia was occupied by Russia and the process of de-occupation of Georgia began legally. At the same time, approaches of Ilia Chavchavadze, Ambrosi Khelaia, Ivane Javakhishvili and others towards essential questions of Kartvelology intensified. After the declaration of independence (1991) Georgia found itself at the crossroads of a many-sided geopolitical controversy. Naturally, the interested parties strive to demonstrate the linguistic-ethnic history and present of the Georgian nation according to their own interests. Different subjective approaches are directly reflected in the planning of Kartvelology as well. In this respect, powers wishing to revive the Russian Empire are especially active. For the purpose of maintaining the Caucasus, they have carried out ethnic cleansing in marginal regions of Georgia and are now trying to manage the identity of the population of other areas of the country. The managing of the identity of the population occurs by means of purposeful falsification of the historical and current reality. For this purpose, misinformative reports and quasi-scholarly qualifications on the Kartvelian linguistic- ethnic world are intensively disseminated in the global network. From the beginning of the 21st century certain powers actively try to disrupt the linguistic-ethnic unity of the Georgian nation and to legalize this with the help of documents of the Council of Europe as well. In particular, there is an attempt to impose on Georgia an incorrect interpretation of the "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages". The “Charter for Languages”, from the legal and cultural point of view, is a high-level document, but in the case of its wrong interpretation, it may become the basis for disintegration of any powerful country. As a result of the dual interpretation of the “Charter for Languages”, Georgian and European experts offer two kinds of qualifications of the Kartvelian linguistic world: 1. According to traditional Georgian and some foreign sources, the Kartvelian linguistic world is represented as one language – the Georgian language - and more than 20 dialects; 2. By the inertia of the official positions of the empires of tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia, the Kartevelian linguistic world is represented as four /or three/ independent languages, of which Megrelian, Laz and Svan are qualified as regional or minority languages6. In the present-day highly dynamic world, Kartvelological academic research and wide dissemination of its results have essential importance. Against this background, the primary objective of the Kartvelological Centre of the Georgian University is to make its contribution to the formation of the unified international scholarly domain. Today, more than ever, it is necessary that we, Kartvelologists living in the states of the Caucasian region, /linguists, historians, ethnologists.../ carry out joint research through the cooperation with the American, European, Russian and Asian scholars. Naturally, the Kartvelological Centre of the Georgian University cannot plan research in all directions of Kartvelology; the scholarly group of the Centre is concentrated around a number of scholarly projects. In particular, at the current stage we have set three main objectives: 1. Documentation and research of the Kartvelian folk heritage being under threat, especially dialects, folklore and ethnographic material of the Georgians living beyond the borders of Georgia (Taoans, Livanans, Laz, Machakhelians, Shavshetians, Ingilos/ Hers, Fereidanians). I hope that we will be able to achieve this objective by implementation of joint projects with our Turk, Iranian and Azebaijanian colleagues. 2. Study of Megrelian-Laz, Svan, Taoan, Livanan, Ingilo and Fereidanian vocabulary for the purpose of enrichment of the lexical basis of the literary language of the Georgians (creation of an electronic dictionary of recommended words). 3. Commenting on wrong terminological qualifications, inaccurate information and inadequate maps, found in academic encyclopedias and electronic directories (international as well as national ones) concerning the Georgian language and culture, providing objective information to publishers. Critical analysis of the so-called historical-territorial ideologemes having the Abkhazian and Ossetian colouring, created in the area of the Russian Empire The presentation discusses in detail the third problem. Namely, critical analysis is given of quasi-scholarly qualifications on the Georgian nation and the Kartvelian linguistic world, created in the area of the Empire, which are disseminated almost with no alternative in the contemporary encyclopaedic and internet space (see relevant maps and their internet addresses here in the Georgian version of the presentation). Every nation, ethnos or ethnic group has the right to have access to exhaustive information on its own linguistic-ethnic, state and cultural history. Objective humanitarian science creates a firm foundation for peace between peoples and states, whereas quasi-science, deformed by political purposes, creates a war ideology. It is fact that chauvinistic "scholarly" /biased/ provisions of different directions greatly harmed all big and small nations of the world, including the Caucasian peoples. Humanitarian science should be oriented towards peace and not towards provoking confrontation. After the collapse of the Soviet empire, new opportunities emerged for the peoples of the Caucasus. We, scholars, should create a firm foundation in order that the nations and ethnoses of the Caucasian-Western Asian region perceive objectively their linguistic-ethnic identity and see each other better. I think that participants of the present Kartvelological scholarly conference will take a modest step towards lasting peace. Finally I would like to note: The Kartvelological Centre of the Georgian University will try as far as possible to turn scholarly Kartvelology into an interesting arena of researchers of various countries. Especially we, Kartvelologists/Caucasologists working in the states of the Caucasian region - Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran and Russia/North Caucasus - by organization of joint research and scholarly forums, are able to activate linguistic-ethnic and culturological studies in the direction of Kartvelology proper as well as Georgian- North Caucasian, Georgian- Armenian, Georgian-Turkish, Georgian-Azerbaijanian and Georgian-Iranian historical relationship. Exactly joint research will facilitate peace and mutual respect between communities living in the Caucasus.