Georgia, Ajara, identity, ethnicity, armed conflict

In addition to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which behave like de facto states today, the Georgian territory is home to yet another autonomous entity, Ajara. Also this region was the scene of strong tensions with the central authorities in Tbilisi in the early 1990s and there were indications that Ajara would emulate the example of Abkhazia and South Osetia. In contrast with them, however, Ajara managed to avoid separatism, armed conflict as well as economic instability. In their text the authors map the development of ethnic identity in Ajaria from the nineteenth century till 2004, when the conflict ended and the Heidelberg Conflict Barometer stopped filing Ajara under conflict regions. Transformation of ethnic identity is understood here as one of the reasons why religious diversity in Ajara did not become politicized into the form of ethnic conflict and an attempt to form an independent state.