Armenians in Georgia
[4] In the 18th and 19th centuries, Armenian merchants, including famous jewelers and oil industrialists invested heavily in business in Georgia and helped build trading houses, cultural centers, schools and churches.
[citation needed] Tbilisi became a veritable cultural center for Eastern Armenians ("arevelahayer", commonly called Russian-Armenians "rusahayer") just like Istanbul in Turkey became cultural center for the Western Armenians ("arevmedahayer", commonly called Turkish-Armenians "turkahayer" at the time).
[citation needed] As a result of the struggles of the Russian Empire with the Ottomans and its conquest of the Caucasus over the Qajar Iran, the Russian authorities found themselves able to settle Christian Armenian and Greek refugees in the area after 1828,[5] following the ratified Treaty of Turkmenchay with Qajar Iran of 1828, and the Treaty of Adrianople with Ottoman Turkey of 1829.
The walls of Norashen, which means "new construction", had been decorated by the frescoes of Hovnatan Hovnatanian, the court painter of Georgian King Heraclius II.
[citation needed] By the end of World War I, some of these territories were occupied by the Ottoman Empire, but when they abandoned the areas both Armenians and Georgians claimed control.
[citation needed] The hostilities continued until the United Kingdom-brokered ceasefire was signed, leaving the disputed part of Lori under the joint Armenian-Georgian administration, which lasted until the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia in 1920.
[citation needed] Armenians welcomed the establishment of the Republic of Georgia hoping for better living conditions after the collapse of the Soviet rule.
[citation needed] The government's new language policies are a source of strong resentment and it is accused of abolishing minorities' former rights to use Armenian or Russian and thus limiting access to jobs and education.
Without the knowledge of Georgian Armenians in Georgia will not be able to seek senior and high government position and can not run successful businesses.
[citation needed] Some Armenians believe they are victims of a policy to shift Samtskhe-Javakheti region's demographic balance as a number of Georgian families were settled there.
[6] Armenians are also underrepresented in the government (holding 5 seats in the 235-member Parliament,[6] for example), leading to the perception of discrimination and mutual distrust.
Until recently the neighborhoods of Avlabari and the area across the river were very heavily Armenian, but that has changed a great deal in the last two decades.
[10] As recently as 16 November 2008, a controversial Georgian priest organized excavations around Norashen Church, during which the tombstones of Armenian patrons of art of Tbilisi buried in the churchyard were removed.
Both Georgian and Armenian governments have pursued a careful and calming policy in regard with local nationalist movements that helped ease tensions in the region.
[15] Armenians settled in Abkhazia in late 19th and the early 20th centuries and are now the largest ethnic group in Gagra, Sukhumi, and Gulripshi Districts, forming 20% of the Abkhazian population with 45,000 out of a total of 215,000.
[citation needed] During the war in Abkhazia in early 90s, most local Armenians supported Abkhazian secessionists, which resulted in increase of anti-Armenian sentiments within the Georgian society.
[16] However, the de facto Abkhaz authorities have been accused by local Armenian NGOs of intentionally decreasing the number of Abkhazian-Armenians.
[citation needed] Another historian, Matheos of Urkha, reports that during the reign of Georgia's king David IV the Armenian church was granted status of a recognized diocese.
The Russian Empire, which had controlled Georgia since the beginning of that century, made use of that rite exclusive to the Eastern Orthodox Church.
[citation needed] After restrictions by the Russian authorities, the newspaper was replaced by "Horizon" that was not affiliated with any specific political party and went on publishing until 1918.
After declaration of the First Republic of Armenia, he served as Foreign Minister and signed the Treaty of Batum with the Ottoman Empire.
Real name is Harutyun Sayatyan and his mother Sara was a Georgian Armenian although father was Karapet from Aleppo or Adana.
He lost his political clout at the royal court when he fell in love with the Georgian king's daughter, and spent the rest of his life as an itinerant bard.
Sayat-Nova is considered by many the greatest ashough (folk singer-songwriter) that ever lived in the Caucasus (the area between the Black and the Caspian sea).
Sergei Parajanov (Armenian: Սարգիս Հովսեփի Փարաջանյան, (Sargis Hovsep'i P'arajanyan); Georgian: სერგეი (სერგო) ფარაჯანოვი; Russian: Серге́й Иосифович Параджанов), was born in Tbilisi in 1924 and was a Soviet Armenian film director and artist, widely regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest masters of cinema.
Still, it required help of influential Georgian actor David (Dodo) Abashidze and other friends to have his last feature films green-lighted.
Mikael Tariverdiev (Russian: Микаэл Таривердиев (1931–1996, was born in Tbilisi and was a prominent Soviet composer of Armenian descent.
Having learnt German and English in addition to his Armenian, Georgian and Russian, Shaumyan took his degree in philology at Tbilisi State University.
The interaction peaked in the Middle Ages when both nations engaged in prolific cultural dialogue and allied themselves against the neighboring Muslim empires.
There were frequent intermarriages between Armenian and Georgian royal and noble families and both ethnicities intermingled in several border areas.
