Sazlıçayır (formerly: / Akhalsheni; ) is a village in the Hanak District, Ardahan Province, Turkey.Köy , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 15 January 2023. The village is populated by Kurds of the Gelturan tribe and had a population of 409 in 2021.
History
The former name of Sazlıçayır village is Akhalsheni. Akhalsheni (), a Georgian place name, consists of the words ‘akhali’ (ახალი: new) and ‘sheni’ (შენი: dwelling), meaning ‘new village’.„შენი", A Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary, London, 2006, 2 volumes „ახალი", A Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary, London, 2006, 2 volumes This place name entered Turkish as "Ahalşen" (اخالشین).გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume III (1958), p. 535. However, the letter ‘L’ was dropped over time, and the village's name changed to "Ahaşen" (آخاشین).Son Teşkilat-i Mülkiyede Köylerimizin Adları (Ottoman Turkish), Istanbul, 1928, p. 762.
Akhalsheni is located in the historical region of Erusheti, one of the early centres of Georgian Christianity. Indeed, the Ottomans seized this region and the village from the Georgians in the mid-16th century. The Georgian church in the village, Akhalsheni Church, dates back to this period. A note in a Bible preserved in the city of Kutaisi, Georgia, states that in 1492, the monks of the Georgian Iviron Monastery in Mount Athos requested that the ruler of Samtskhe-Saatabago, Kvarkvare II, his sons, and Mzechabuki donate the villages of ‘Beberani’ (today Çetinsu) and ‘Akhalshenni’ (Sazlıçayır) villages in the Artani region to the monastery.წიქარიშვილი, ლევან; გელაშვილი, ანა; გოზალიშვილი, ბებურ; კოღუაშვილი, შალვა; იმედაშვილი, ანა; გაჩეჩილაძე, დავით; მაისურაძე, დავით - "ტაო–კლარჯეთის ძეგლების 2014 წლის საკვლევი ექსპედიციების ანგარიშები", Tbilisi, 2015, pp. 95-96
The old Georgian church in the village, Akhalsheni Church, has been completely demolished and a mosque has been built in its place. Е. Такайшвили, "Материалы по археологии Кавказа, собранные экспедициями Московского археологического общества: Выпуск XII", Moscow, 1909, pp. 7=8.ხუციშვილი, თეიმურაზ; გოზალიშვილი, ბებურ; იმედაშვილი, ანა; კოღუაშვილი, შალვა; მაისურაძე, დავით; წიქარიშვილი, ლევან; "ტაო-კლარჯეთის ძეგლების 2019 წლის საკვლევი ექსპედიციების ანგარიშები / Reports of 2019 Research Expeditions of Tao-Klarjeti Monuments", Tbilisi, 2021, p. 20
References