From Batumi to Tbilisi, if you don't take the main road but use a track closer to the Turkish and Armenian borders, you can meet a sample of the diversity of Georgian population which reflects the history of the region: Greeks, Doukhobors, Armenians, Germans, Meshketians, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Yezidis, Azeris, Ossets, etc

Since the end of the USSR, the identity policies of each caucasian nation-state, the ethnic conflicts and the economical situations have led to a strong homogenization of the populations. And Georgia is not an exception with strong nationalist policies and the influence of the Orthodox Church. Southern Georgia and its diversity is still an exception, but the dynamic under way is homogenization: the Meshketians of Abastumani are unable to assert their right to return, the Germans of Asureti have left, the last Jews of Akhaltsikhe can be counted on the fingers of the hands, and without the crisis in Greece the departure of the Greeks of Tsalka would not have stopped, the Catholics are slowly converting to Orthodoxy, and the Doukhobors prefer to go to work in Russia while Armenians and Adjarians are replacing them in Samtskhe–Javakheti.

How long will this region retain its multi-ethnic character so typical of the Caucasus?