Georgian is the official language of the Republic of Georgia. There are approximately 6 million native speakers of Georgian worldwide. The vast majority of Georgian speakers are located in Georgia but significant size communities can also be found in Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia. Georgian belongs to the Southern branch of the Caucasian family of languages. Its closest relations are Svan and Megrelian, which are spoken primarily in Northwest Georgia. Georgian possesses a number of dialects but is most commonly grouped into either Eastern or Western dialects. Standard Georgian is based on Eastern dialects. Georgian employs it own unique form for writing. Called Mkhedruli (the military/secular writing), the Georgian alphabet consists of thirty-three letters: 5 vowels and 28 consonants.