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Azeri minority report from Georgia
Published: 30 June, 2010, 09:21
Edited: 30 June, 2010, 14:53
TAGS: Conflict, Georgia, Human rights, Psychology
The members of Azerbaijani community in Georgia are raising their voices to have their rights recognized as they believe they are being treated as second-class citizens while being one of Georgia's largest ethnic groups.
The town of Marneuli is less than an hour’s drive from the Georgian capital, but being here is like traveling into a different country.
Peaceful and relaxed to an outside observer, on the inside, the town is in the midst of a long-running struggle.
The Geyrat Movement operates here, aiming to protect the interests of thousands of Azeris, living in Georgia.
The movement’s leader Alibala Askerov spent the last 15 years fighting for his people’s rights and though he acknowledges that some progress has been made the fight is far from being over.
“There are several issues we want paid close attention to: education of our youth, land division for our people, the problem of language, and jobs for our population,” lists Geyrat Movement’s claims Alibala Askerov.
The main issue, Alibala believes, is the language barrier. 85 per cent of the population in Marneuli speaks Russian, the only foreign language they know, aside from their native tongue.
More than half a million Azeris who live in Georgia feel that their basic right – to know their language – is being denied. Most of them do not know Georgian, and feel like foreigners in the country they were born and raised in.
Citizens of Marneuli are discontent that the Georgian school day is three hours longer than Azeri schools, which in their opinion means that Georgian culture, history and literature is important, and Azeri is not.
Citizens say they feel that they depend on someone. Young people cannot find jobs and have nothing to do.
Yet some Azeris feel that the problem is not that of the Georgian government, but lies with the Azeri population itself.
“The language barrier is a huge block. Georgian is a state language, and when they hire someone for a state job, they expect him to be able to read and write in Georgian,” explains Ali Mamedov, Chair of the Institute of Civil Society of Kvemo Kartli.
Alibala Askerov feels differently, saying Azeris live in Georgia and love it no less than Georgians. “This is our homeland. I, personally, would die for this country, but it, too, must do something for me,” he believes.
However so far it seems like the relationship between Azerbaijani population and the Georgian government is a one-way street.
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The Azeris don't like the Georgians. The Armenians don't like the Georgians. Neither do the Abkhazis and Ossetians. Even the Georgians themselves don't like one another. The more lighter skin and light-eyed Georgians from the western part of the country look down upon the darker Georgians and often ridicule them with derogatory terms. The hope of every Georgian mother is that their son marry a Russian, Ukrainian, or a girl from western Georgia in oder to lighten the family gene pool. And, many Georgians don't care for their country either and hope look for a chance to emigrate to Germany or Russia. If Georgia is ever allowed to join the EU, Europe will immediately be flooded with vagrant Georgians waving their EU passports. That is why EU does not want Georgia as a member. All the while, Saakashvili, the delusional "leader of the Georgians", flies the EU flag in front of the parliament building as if to fool the Georgian people into believing that Georgia really is an EU member, while in reality she is not. Georgia is a real mess, but she is America's darling.