In the west of Isfahan, there are some Georgian villages and an alomst large Georgian city, the interesting thing is that the people who live there, have kept their culture and tradition through hundreds years with numerous problems, in the 18th century they wanted to create an independent Georgian (Kartvelebi) state in the Central Iran but Karim Khan, the founder of Zand dynasty, fought against them and killed a large number of them, Georgians of Feredunshahr consider it as a great disaster, like the Armenian genocide, and hate Karim Khan who is considered as a great king in Iran.
Fereydoon Shahr or
Fereydunshahr, the center of
Fereydunshahr County is a city in the western part of the
Isfahan province of
Iran. It is situated inside the
Zagros mountain range. It has one of the country's largest population of ethnic
Georgians (ფერეიდნელი). People from Fereydunshahr speak a Georgian-Persian dialect, along with Persian. The Georgian alphabet is also used.
Later in the day, president traveled to the province of Fereidan to meet ethnic Georgians who had been living there for centuries. After invading Kakheti and Kartli in 1616 Shah Abbas I resettled more than one-hundred-thousand Georgians in the province of Iran - Fereidan.
Although converted to Islam, the Georgian descendents have retained much of the language and Georgian traditions. When Saakashvili arrived in the central town, men began chanting, "gaumarjos, gaumarjos, gaumarjos."
During the brief visit, the delegation distributed Georgian language books to residents. It also became a very emotional meeting for the president.
"I dreamed about coming here and I used to come here in my dreams," Saakashvili told the crowd.