10.2006 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

Greeks make up 0.35% of the population; they tend to speak Russian or Georgian; they belong to the Greek Orthodox Church ("Implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities in Georgia: A Feasibility Study") [ID 18363]

"According to the 2002 Census, there were 15,166 Greeks in Georgia, equivalent to 0.35% of the population. However, this number is decreasing rapidly as Greeks continue to emigrate from Tsalka district, which is the area in which they are concentrated. In 1979, there were 95,105 Greeks in Georgia (1.9% of the total population), including 30,811 in Tsalka (62.4% of the population of the district). The number left in Tsalka district today, according to figures from the district administration ( have taken up residence in Greece. As well as the Greeks of Tsalka, there are also small Greek populations in the neighbouring district of Tetritsqaro, as well as in Borjomi and Kobuleti districts. Most of the Greeks living in Tsalka district arrived as refugees from the Ottoman Empire and therefore speak Ottoman Turkish, rather than Greek. A few Greek communities, especially in Adjara and Abkhazia, speak Pontic Greek. Outside Tsalka, Greeks tend to speak Russian or (less frequently) Georgian in most social situations. Greeks in Georgia belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. There are no Greek schools in Georgia, although in a few schools Greek can be studied as a foreign language. The main problem faced by the Greek community in Georgia is that of emigration. The problem is particularly acute in Tsalka, where almost all young Greeks have left and those that remain are elderly and vulnerable to attack by criminals. In recent years there have been a number of reports of Greeks in Tsalka being the victims of robbery, mugging and even murder as migrants from other parts of Georgia enter the region in search of land and employment. gamgeoba), is around 1,500. Most of those who have left"

Document(s): Open document

21.07.2006 - Source: EurasiaNet

Report on ethnic Greeks returning to their homes in Georgia; 13 years ago Greeks made up 70 percent of Tsalka's population, or some 30,000 people; today just 1,500 Greeks remain in Tsalka ("Georgia’s Greeks: Trying to Come Home") [ID 15867]

"For nearly 200 years, Greeks, Georgians, Russians and Armenians in Tsalka shared the same churches, cemeteries and family ties. Tsalka’s ethnic Greeks are descendants of refugees from eastern Turkey who came to Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, after Greece’s War of Independence (1821-1831) against the Ottoman Empire. Thirteen years ago, Greeks made up 70 percent of Tsalka’s population, or some 30,000 people. Then, in the early 1990s, ethnic Greeks, like many Georgians, left Georgia to look for better lives and work, mostly heading to Greece, where citizenship laws facilitated their return. Today, just 1,500 Greeks remain in Tsalka. These Greeks are mostly elderly, although a few young families are struggling to stay, too."

Document(s): Open document