GEORGIA ( საქართველო / Sakartvelo )

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary parliamentary republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy. Georgia contains two official autonomous regions, of which one has declared independence. Officially autonomous within Georgia, the de facto independent region of Abkhazia declared independence in 1999. In addition, another territory not officially autonomous has also declared independence. South Ossetia is officially known by Georgia as the Tskinvali region, as it views "South Ossetia" as implying political bonds with Russian North Ossetia. It was called South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast when Georgia was part of Soviet Union. Its autonomous status was revoked in 1990. De facto separate since Georgian independence, offers were made to give South Ossetia autonomy again, but in 2006 an unrecognised referendum in the area resulted in a vote for independence.

In both Abkhazia and South Ossetia large numbers of people had been given Russian passports, some through a process of forced passportization by Russian authorities. This was used as a justification for Russian invasion of Georgia during the 2008 South Ossetia war after which Russia recognised the region's independence. Georgia considers the regions as occupied by Russia. Both republics have received minimal international recognition. Adjara under local strongman Aslan Abashidze maintained close ties with Russia and allowed a Russian military base to be maintained in Batumi. Upon the election of Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004 tensions rose between Abashidze and the Georgian government, leading to demonstrations in Adjara and the resignation and flight of Abashidze. The region retains autonomy, and as a sign of Ajaria's reconnection with the central Georgian government, the Georgian Constitutional Court was moved from T'bilisi to Batumi.

Georgia is a developing country and ranks 70th on the Human Development Index. The country is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. It contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained very limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Most of the world's countries consider the regions to be Georgian territory under Russian occupation.

Ethnic Georgians form about 86.8 percent of Georgia's current population of 3,713,804 (2014 census). Other ethnic groups include Abkhazians, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijanis, Greeks, Jews, Kists, Ossetians, Russians, Ukrainians, Yezidis and others. The Georgian Jews are one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Once Georgia was also home to significant ethnic German communities, but most Germans were deported during World War II.

The first stamps of Georgia as the Democratic Republic of Georgia were issued on 26 May 1919. A further series was issued in 1921. In March 1922 until September 1923 overprinted stamps of The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic were used. From 1 October 1923 general issues of the Transcaucasian Federation were used. From 1924 until 1993 stamps of the Soviet Union were used in Georgia following the absorption of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic into the U.S.S.R. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia became independent again in April 1991 and issued stamps in its own name from 31 July 1993. Unlike other ex-Soviet republics, Georgia did not overprint Soviet stamps to meet their postal needs after independence, although a number of overprints were carried out on Georgian stamps in 1994.

Stamps have been produced purporting to be from the Republic of Abkhazia, an area in western Georgia that is not recognised as a sovereign state by all but few countries. Most stamps of Abkhazia are believed to be bogus, produced in foreign countries solely for sale to collectors, but more recently Abkhazia has produced stamps that may have legitimate use locally within the borders of the disputed area.  From 2018 onwards, Abkhazian stamps are valid for international usage and they introduced registered mail services too with own country code AB, even though they are not recognised by the UPU.

The cover posted on May 23, 2016 and I received on June 02,2016.

This is the backside of the cover, because the postage was not sufficient. so The remaining stamps affixed on backside.