Memorial of Victims of Iranian Rulers in Georgia

Every year, ceremonies and commemorations are held in Georgia that are in some way related to Iran. Georgians make efforts to keep alive the memory of those who were “martyred” in military campaigns and suppressions by Iranian rulers. They are particularly sensitive about the massacres of Shah Abbas I and Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, viewing them as dark points in the turbulent history of their country.

One Hundred Thousand Martyrs of Tbilisi

Every year on November 13, large numbers of people gather on a bridge over the Mtkvari River (Kura) in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to commemorate the memory of the “hundred thousand martyrs of Tbilisi” who were killed by Sultan Jalal al-Din, the last ruler of the Turkic-Iranian Khwarazmshah dynasty.

In 1226 CE, Sultan Jalal al-Din besieged the city of Tbilisi, which had been under Georgian control for more than a century. However, a group of “Iranians residing in Tbilisi” eventually opened the city gates to the attackers at night.

At that time, Georgia was under the rule of Queen Tamar, who managed to escape from the attackers. After the conquest of Tbilisi, Christian inhabitants were ordered to convert to Islam.

By order of Sultan Jalal al-Din, images of Christ and the Virgin Mary were placed on a bridge over the Mtkvari River so that Christians would be forced to desecrate them. Anyone who refused to desecrate these images and convert to Islam was executed.

It is said that one hundred thousand people, nearly the entire population of Tbilisi, refused to abandon their faith, and the water of the Mtkvari River turned red with their blood. Georgian historians have described the brutality of the massacre of women, children, the elderly and the young, and the plunder of the city as “indescribable,” and this event is remembered as “the darkest day in Georgian history.”

Every year on November 13, priests and people carry icons and placards depicting this event through the streets. They finally gather on the Metekhi Bridge, which is said to be the site of this massacre, light candles in memory of the victims, and throw flowers into the Mtkvari River. Ceremonies are also held in churches.

Queen Ketevan the Martyr

Every year on September 26, people gather in the Church of Queen Ketevan (Ketayun) and other churches in Tbilisi to light candles in her memory.

Ketevan was the mother of Prince Teimuraz. From 1605 onwards, when Teimuraz was a young child, his mother, with the permission of Shah Abbas I Safavid, ruled the kingdom of Kakheti as regent. However, in 1614, Shah Abbas set out to suppress the unrest and disturbances in Georgia and consolidate his rule there.

Ketevan surrenders herself to prevent Shah Abbas’s attack, but the Iranian ruler ravages the Georgian region. The Iranian army carries out a widespread massacre, and according to historians, thousands of Georgian soldiers and people are killed and thousands more are deported to the center of Iran.

The massacre of the people of Kakheti remains a painful tragedy in the eyes of the Georgian people and historians, even referenced in Georgian schools. But more tragic was the fate that befell the Queen in Iran.

Queen Ketevan spent 10 years in Shiraz until Shah Abbas, seeking to take revenge against Teimuraz for not surrendering, demanded that Ketevan convert to Islam and marry him. However, she met with his firm resistance and was tortured with hot irons until she died. The Georgian Orthodox Church canonized her and gave her the title “Ketevan the Tortured.” She is also known as Queen Ketevan the Martyr.

Portuguese priests who witnessed the torture secretly exhumed her remains. It was said that parts of her remains were buried in a church in India. Recent DNA tests showed that these remains belonged to a Georgian woman, namely Queen Ketevan.

In 2015, a copied version of a painting depicting Queen Ketevan’s moment of torture was unveiled at Mukhrani Palace in eastern Georgia. The original version of this painting, engraved on tile, is located in a church in Lisbon, Portugal.

Three Hundred Soldiers of Aragveli

Georgians gather on September 24 each year at the memorial of the Three Hundred Aragveli and churches in Tbilisi to commemorate the victims and soldiers who were killed in the attack by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar.

In the late 18th century, after Agha Mohammad Khan completely conquered Iran, Erekle (Heraclius II), the ruler of Georgia, backed by his alliance with the Russians, severed all official relations with Iran and declared himself under the protection of Tsarist Russia.

Therefore, Agha Mohammad Khan declared in 1795 in a letter to Erekle that if the ruler of Georgia did not sever his relations with the Russians and did not show complete obedience to Iran, he would launch a military campaign there.

Erekle rejected Agha Mohammad Khan’s demands and prepared himself for the attack. Agha Mohammad Khan launched a military campaign to Georgia and, despite Georgian resistance in this battle, emerged victorious, and Erekle fled to Tbilisi.

Agha Mohammad Khan launched a campaign to Tbilisi to find him. Erekle, along with his family and relatives, fled from Tbilisi to western Georgia. Agha Mohammad Khan conquered Tbilisi and ordered the killing and plundering of the people. His army drowned many clergy in the Mtkvari River and destroyed the city. Around fifteen thousand boys and girls from the city were captured and taken to Iran.

According to historians, the Iranian attack dealt such a blow to Georgia that it never recovered. Erekle died in 1798, and the rule of Georgia passed to his son George XII. With George’s death in 1800, the Georgian royal dynasty came to an end, and the Russian Empire, which had occupied Georgia, annexed the country to its territory.

In 1959, the Three Hundred Aragveli Memorial was built in memory of 300 soldiers who made the final attempts to repel Agha Mohammad Khan’s army, at the site where the remains of those killed in that battle were discovered. These soldiers were from Aragveli near Tbilisi, who died in the Battle of Krtsanisi.

Griboyedov

Alexander Griboyedov, the Russian Ambassador who was killed in 1829 during the attack by protesters on the Russian Embassy in Tehran, is buried in Tbilisi. Although Iranians hold no affection for him due to his drafting of the Treaty of Turkmenchay and the annexation of parts of Iranian territory to Russia, Georgians remember him as a learned man, playwright, poet, and composer.

Although Griboyedov was not killed by Iranian rulers and no formal commemorative ceremony is held for him, many who visit his grave and that of his wife, who is buried beside him, bring flowers and light candles in their memory.

Griboyedov married Nino, daughter of Georgian poet Alexander Chavchavadze, in 1828 and was sent to Iran by the Tsar as Ambassador a short time later.

When he arrived in Tehran, he discovered that several Georgian women were living in the homes of Iranian men. He considered them captives according to the terms of the Treaty of Turkmenchay and requested their return from the Iranian government.

Finally, with Griboyedov’s insistence, two Armenian women, whom the Iranians claimed had converted to Islam and were living in the house of Allahyar Khan Asaf al-Dowleh, the foreign minister at the time, sought refuge with the Russian mission. On the orders of Rustam Beg, one of Griboyedov’s Iranian companions at the Russian Embassy, the Armenian women, who were thinking of seeking refuge in Russia, were taken to one of the bathhouses adjacent to the embassy.

Some have considered the taking of the Armenian women to the bathhouse as the height of the people’s anger in Tehran. Many people in Tehran were angry about the conclusion of the Treaty of Turkmenchay, and some of the people, incited by a clergyman, attacked the Russian Embassy on January 30, 1829.

The attackers climbed over the walls of the ambassador’s residence and began shooting from there. One of the first bullets wounded Griboyedov. Griboyedov’s mutilated body was taken out of Iran for burial and was buried in Tbilisi.

Nino, Griboyedov’s wife, is always praised among Georgians because she never agreed to remarry.

Source: BBC