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The 'Adjar ASSR', 'Adzhar ASSR' or 'Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic' was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR, established on 16 July, 1921. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 it constitutes the Autonomous Republic of Adjara of Georgia.

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Establishment

Establishment

After a temporary occupation by Turkish and British troops in 1918–1920, Ajaria was reunited with Georgia in 1920. After a brief military conflict in March 1921, Ankara government ceded the territory to Georgia due to Article VI of Treaty of Kars with the condition for autonomy to be provided for the Muslim population. The Soviet Union established the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 16 July, 1921 in accord with this clause. It is thought also that Moscow wanted to avoid giving Georgia complete control of the important Black Sea port of Batumi and to bolster Communist leanings among the ethnic Georgian Muslims living in Turkey. However under Joseph Stalin, Islam, like Christianity, was repressed.