Noe Khomeriki – A Patriot Devoted to Freedom

Abstract

Journalist, Georgian Social-Democrat, and Minister of Agriculture of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, Noe (Naum) Khomeriki was born in the village of Mikel-Gabriel in the Ozurgeti district of the Kutaisi Governorate—present-day Shroma.
The life of this young Gurian was closely connected with Kutaisi, where, alongside enrollment in an agricultural school, he actively participated in the Social-Democratic labor movement. After completing his studies, Khomeriki gained practical experience in his native Guria, working at the farm of Mikheil Nakashidze. Concurrently, he took part in local peasant uprisings, which resulted in his imprisonment in Kutaisi for several months.
The determined young man continued his revolutionary activities in Batumi. Due to persecution by the gendarmerie, he returned to Kutaisi, where he became the chief organizer of the Imereti Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party.
Khomeriki contributed to the press in Kutaisi under the pseudonyms „Musha Khu-zi“ and „Musha Khunkhuzhi“. He authored the brochure To the Village Workers and a study on the peasant movement in Guria, The Peasant Movement in Guria.
Despite multiple exiles and imprisonments, Khomeriki never wavered from his chosen path. As a member of the National Council of Georgia and the Transcaucasian Sejm, as well as Minister of Labor, Roads, and Agriculture in the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, he actively participated in agrarian reforms.
Following the Soviet occupation of Georgia, Khomeriki took refuge in Istanbul and returned clandestinely to Georgia at the end of October 1922. He was arrested by the Cheka on November 9, 1923, and refused to provide testimony. One year later, together with other Georgian political leaders, he was executed at an undisclosed location.