Villages Divided by State Border and Demarcation Folk Histories in Turkey and Georgia

Abstract

In the 1920s, the state border divided many valleys and villages of historical southern Georgia. A significant part of the Georgian territory became part of Turkey. Along with other territories inhabited by Georgians, the state border divided two specific villages - Maradidi and Sarpi. Consequently, the lives of the villagers within the different states proceeded in two completely different ways. The paper discusses the border motif and folk histories of demarcation in the memory of the population of divided villages and neighboring settlements. The border area between the Soviet Union and Turkey has long been characterized by a particularly strict regime. Consequently, in such conditions, the population of these villages was deprived of even the possibility of even basic communication for many years. The situation changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the observation of the narrative model presents a conceptual picture of the collective memory of generations, which is distinguished by many peculiarities.