Passage A.525

rendering, not the wording of the record

During the entry of the Russian army into Upper Adjara an olqoba took place. The main actor of the olqoba was a certain Beridze from the village of Khikhadziri. Khikhadziri also became the field of battle. Beridze told a traveller: "All of Upper and Lower Adjara rose to its feet; everyone who could take up a gun, we all went out to the olqa." The Ottoman leaders misled the population and declared Sherif-beg a traitor to the region. The participants of the olqa destroyed the beg's house at Skhalta, and at Khulo burned his chancellery and all the papers (Droeba, 1879: No. 7). According to Tedo Sakhokia, Beridze too was seized during the olqoba, but was later released