Pankisi Gorge
Georgian: პანკისის ხეობა
Pankisi Gorge Show map of Georgia Pankisi Gorge Show map of Kakheti
Geography
Country	Georgia
Coordinates	42°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 just south of Georgia’s historic region of Tusheti between Mt Borbalo and the ruined 17th-century fortress of Bakhtrioni. Administratively, it is included in the Akhmeta municipality of the Kakheti region. An ethnic group called Kists of Chechen roots form the majority (75%) in the area.^{[ citation needed]}

History

17th century geographer and historian prince Vakhushti Bagrationi in his book " Description of Kingdom of Georgia" writes that the inhabitants of Pankisi are Georgian nobility with titles of Aznauri and Tavadi who have buildings near the mountains ^[1].He also writes: "The village of Pankisi has vineyards, fruits and gardens, and mountain foods, like the places of mountains. Fish - trout, the forest is full of animals, land fertile for the grain, also for rice and cotton. A lots of cattle and a lot of pigs." ^[2]

In the legislative acts of Georgian law of the 18th century, the noble(Aznauri) Kobiashvili family of the Kingdom of Kakheti are mentioned as the lords of the Pankisi valley. ^{[3] [4]}

According to sources, in 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. ^[5]

Etymology

According to M.Albutashvili(also known as Kisti Chobani) toponym Pankisi is of Georgian origin, according to him, Pankisi derives from Pantisi which means land rich in wild forest pears(P’ant’a-პანტა)(pyrus caucasica) with Georgian suffix -სი(si). ^{[6] [5]}

Area conditions

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. ^[7] Most of these accusations were around 2002, but others allege that it is more peaceful now, ^[8] although there are still many Chechen refugees living there. ^[9]

The former senior Islamic State leader Tarkan Batirashvili, otherwise known as "Omar the Chechen", grew up in the area where some of his family still lives. ^[10] In 2014, Batirashvilii reportedly threatened to return to the area to lead a Muslim attack on Russian Chechnya, ^[11] however such a threat never came into fruition as he was killed during a battle in the town of Al-Shirqat in Iraq of 2016.

Cultural references

The situation in the Pankisi Gorge received an extensive fictional treatment factoring into several of the popular John Ringo anti-terrorism military science fiction books in the Paladin of Shadows series.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

• Shorena Kurtsikidze and Vakhtang Chikovani, Georgia's Pankisi Gorge: An Ethnographic Survey, Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies,University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2002.( http://escholarship.org/uc/item/64d7v9hj)
• Rebecca Ruth Gould, “ Secularism and Belief in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge," Journal of Islamic Studies 22.3(2011): 339–373.
• Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program [1]

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