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Pankisi

Coordinates: 42°07′N 45°16′E / 42.117°N 45.267°E / 42.117; 45.267
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pankisi Gorge
Georgian: პანკისის ხეობა
Pankisi Gorge is located in Georgia
Pankisi Gorge
Pankisi Gorge
Pankisi Gorge is located in Kakheti
Pankisi Gorge
Pankisi Gorge
Geography
Country Georgia
Coordinates42°07′N 45°16′E / 42.117°N 45.267°E / 42.117; 45.267 

Pankisi (Georgian: პანკისი) or the Pankisi Gorge (Georgian: პანკისის ხეობა, Pankisis Kheoba)[a] is a valley region in Georgia, in the upper reaches of River Alazani. It lies just south of Georgia’s historic region of Tusheti between Mt Borbalo and the ruined 17th-century fortress of Bakhtrioni.

In 2002, Pankisi was at the epicentre of the Pankisi Gorge crisis, during which the valley played host to an armed formation led by the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev, who had fled the Second Chechen War. In the context of the Global War on Terror, both Russian and American political figures made public allegations, which were subsequently either disproved or uncorroborated, that senior Al-Qaeda leaders were present in the Gorge, and had acquired the nerve agent ricin.[1] The Gorge has occasionally been mentioned in subsequent reports linking it to Salafi-jihadist activity.[2]

Administratively, Pankisi is included in the Akhmeta municipality of the Kakheti region. The area is about two and half miles wide and eight miles long.[3]

As of 2019, the Kist ethnic group accounted for the majority of the area's roughly 5,000 residents.[4] The Kists are Vainakhs, usually of Chechen roots, who have moved to the Pankisi area since the 19th Century. Kist culture combines Vainakh traditions with some influences from surrounding eastern Georgia.[3]

History

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The 17th century geographer and historian Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi, in his book Description of Kingdom of Georgia, writes that the inhabitants of Pankisi were Georgian nobility of the Aznauri and Tavadi classes, although his account makes clear that there were also peasants in the area. [5] He described them as intelligent, and as "skilled warriors."

Vakhushti described Pankisi itself as forested, with plentiful fruit trees, and vineyards that produced good wine. He added that the harvests were good, and the forests rich in game. Fish too were numerous, he wrote, especially "mountain trout", and that there were many cattle, and many pigs, but few sheep.[5]

In the 1730s, the Pankisi valley was emptied of Georgian population: part of them were killed as a result of the invasions, and rest of them resettled elsewhere.[6]

In 18th century Georgian legislation, the noble (Aznauri) Kobiashvili family of the Kingdom of Kakheti are mentioned as the lords of the Pankisi valley.[7][8]

Georgia's 1989 census found that the Pankisi Gorge's population was 43% Kist, 29% Georgian, and 28% Ossetian.[3] However, during the subsequent two decades the valley's ethnic composition changed again under the pressure of regional wars. Many of the valley's Ossetians fled from the South Ossetia War and the Georgian Civil War, to settle in North Ossetia-Alania in the Russian Federation.[3] Chechens fled from the two wars in Chechnya, which had attempted to secede from the Russian Federation, and some made their homes in Pankisi's villages.[3] By 2007, the Kists were the largest ethnic group in the area.[3]

The 2014 census did not report a separate demographic breakdown for Pankisi, but found that the wider Akhmeta municipality was home to 5,471 Kists, or roughly 17% of the municipal population.[9] By 2019, Kists were reported to be a majority of Pankisi's roughly-5,000 inhabitants.[4]

Etymology

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According to Mate Albutashvili (also known as Kisti Chobani), the toponym Pankisi is of Georgian origin. He writes that Pankisi derives from Pantisi which means "land rich in wild forest pears" (P’ant’a-პანტა) (pyrus caucasica) with Georgian suffix -სი(si).[10][6]

Pankisi Gorge crisis

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Main article: Pankisi Gorge crisis
The flags of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and Georgia flying side-by-side in the Pankisi Gorge

It had allegedly often been used as a base for transit, training and shipments of arms and financing by Chechen rebels and Islamic militants, including foreign fighters, many of whom followed Ruslan Gelayev.[11] Most of these accusations were around 2002, but others allege that it is more peaceful now,[12] although there are still many Chechen refugees living there.[13]

The former senior Islamic State leader Tarkan Batirashvili, otherwise known as "Omar the Chechen," grew up in the area, which was still home to some of his family as of 2014.[14] In 2014, Batirashvilii reportedly threatened to return to the area to lead a Muslim attack on Russian Chechnya.[2] However, the threat never came into fruition, and Batirashvili was killed during a battle in the Iraqi town of Al-Shirqat in 2016.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^ Chechen: ПӀаьнгазхойн чӀаж, romanized: Phängazkhoyn ch'azh, Ingush: ПӀенгишхой чӀож, romanized: Phengishkhoy ch'ozh

References

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  1. ^ McGregor, Andrew (5 May 2005). "Ricin Fever: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Pankisi Gorge". The Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b Michael Winfrey (October 9, 2014). "Islamic State Grooms Chechen Fighters Against Putin". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 17, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Sanikidze, George (2007). "Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Caucasian Region: "Global" and "Local" Islam in the Pankisi Gorge". Hokudai University Slavic-Eurasian Research Centre. pp. 263–280. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b Hauer, Neil (15 July 2019). "Pankisi residents find common cause with other Georgians". Eurasianet. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b "აღწერა ჰერეთისა, კახეთისა და კუხეთისა, კუალად თუშეთისა და დიდოეთისა - Wikisource". wikisource.org. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  6. ^ a b მამისიმედაშვილი, ხვთისო (2008). პანკისი წარსული და თანამედროვეობა [Pankisi Past and Modernity] (in Georgian). თბილისი: Tbilisi State University. p. 17. ISBN 978-9941-13-034-2.
  7. ^ დოლიძე, ი (1974). ქართული სამართლის ძეგლები : ტომი V (in Georgian). თბილისი : მეცნიერება. pp. 288–292.
  8. ^ მამისიმედიშვილი, ხვთისო (2008). პანკისის წარსული და თანამედროვეობა [Pankisi Past and Modernity] (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Tbilisi State University. p. 19. ISBN 978-9941-13-034-2.
  9. ^ "Data table: Results of Georgia's 2014 census - ethnicity by area". Archived from the original on 2 March 2025. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  10. ^ ალბუთაშვილი, მათე (2005). პანკისის ხეობა [Pankisi Gorge] (in Georgian). თბილისი: გოგი და ნიკო ჯავახიშვილები.
  11. ^ Kleveman, Lutz, 'The New Great Game', Grove Press New York, 2003 page 35; sourced from New York Times August 15, 2002.
  12. ^ BBC News, Russia's reach unnerves Chechens, Wednesday, 16 January 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7189024.stm Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  13. ^ UNHCR, 'Chechen refugees in Pankisi Gorge resume normal life after Georgia scare', 1 October 2008. http://www.unhcr.org/48e389e12.html Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  14. ^ Akhmeteli, Nina (2014-07-09). "Georgian roots of Isis commander". BBC News.
  15. ^ "Daesh says top leader Omar Al-Shishani killed in battle". Arab News. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-13.

Bibliography

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  • Kurtsikidze, Shorena; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2008). Ethnography and Folklore of the Georgia-Chechnya Border: Images, Customs, Myths & Folk Tales of the Peripheries. Munich: Lincom Europa.
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