page_title: Azerbaijanis in Georgia
section_title: Imperial Russian rule
hierarchical_section_title: Azerbaijanis in Georgia / History / Imperial Russian rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Azeri rug merchants in Tiflis
context_page_description: Azerbaijanis in Georgia or Georgian Azerbaijanis are Azerbaijani people in Georgia, and are Georgian citizens and permanent residents of ethnic Azerbaijani background. According to the 2002 census, there are 284,761 ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Georgia. Azerbaijanis comprise 6.5% of Georgia's population and are the country's largest ethnic minority, inhabiting mostly rural areas like Kvemo Kartli, Kakheti, Shida Kartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti, a region broadly referred to as Borchali. There is also a historical Azerbaijani community in the capital city of Tbilisi and smaller communities in other regions. There were some tensions in the late 1980s in the Azerbaijani-populated regions of Georgia; however, they never escalated to armed clashes.
context_section_description: After Russia conquered the South Caucasus and Dagestan from Qajar Iran following the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the out-coming treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, the government reorganised the Kingdom of Georgia into a governorate, with subdivisions of its own, five of which were referred to as the Tatar ranges (the Czarist nomenclature used the word "Tatar" for Azeri), namely Borchali, Pambak, Shuragel, Kazakh, and Shamshadin. In 1868, the latter two became part of the Elisabethpol Governorate, while the former three were incorporated into the Tiflis Governorate as the Borchali uyezd. The plains of the uyezd were mainly Azeri-populated: out of 63 villages in the Borchali Plain covering 390 square versts (equal to 444 square kilometres) of land, 61 were populated with Azeris.
  In Tiflis, Azeris have historically populated the neighbourhood of Ortachala (from Azeri orta, meaning "central, middle", and Georgian ჭალა (ch'ala), meaning "green coastal area"), also known as Maidan (Azerbaijani: Meydan, meaning "square") or Sheitanbazar (Azerbaijani: Şeytanbazar, meaning "Devil's market"), as well as Seidabad (Azerbaijani: Seyidabad; "city of sayyids"), the old baths district.
  In November 1905, Tiflis almost became an arena of Armenian–Azeri ethnic clashes, which had already affected and caused violent conflicts and massacres in the rest of the South Caucasus. The Armenian population of the city at the time was 50,000, putting the 1,000 Azeris in a dangerous situation. Militia units of the Armenian nationalist Dashnaktsutiun party seized control of key positions. The Azeris were assisted by 2,000 mounted volunteers from Borchali. By three o'clock in the afternoon on 27 November there were already 22 killed and wounded. In response, social democrat labourer activists organised a peaceful rally, calling on both parties not to engage in a conflict, and managed to acquire arms from the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus in order to patrol the streets. Following mediation, both sides came to a peaceful agreement on 1 December 1905, and the Borchalians left the city.
  In 1919, during Georgia's brief independence, 34-year-old Parikhanim Sofiyeva, an Azeri woman from the village of Karajalari near Karaiazi, won the parliament election in her constituency, becoming the first democratically elected Muslim woman in the history of the Caucasus and one of only five Georgian female MPs at the time.
caption: Muslim merchants selling rugs in Tiflis, ca. 1900