Georgian is spoken in the Republic of Georgia where it is the official language. It is used by some 4 million people of which about 40,000 live in Turkey with up to 10,000 living in Iran. Because Russian was the official language of the then Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia, many Georgian speakers are also fluent in the Russian language. Georgian belongs to the South Caucasian branch of the Caucasian languages which is found in the territory between the Caspian and Black Seas. Until the late 1980s, when dramatic political changes allowed a greater emphasis to be placed on Georgian language and history, Georgia's educational system was an integrated component of the larger Soviet system. By 1988, however, some two-thirds of all students had received instruction in Georgian language-middle schools. Today, about 98 percent of the Georgia's people speak Georgian as their primary language.