10.2006 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

No existing strategy to protect minority languages; Kvemo Kartli contains most of Georgia’s 500,000 ethnic Azeris; they face serious human rights violations by officials ("Note: Situation of Human Rights in Georgia") [ID 18499]

"In Georgia, minorities are particularly vulnerable to recurrent human rights violations, including violation of civil and political rights and violations of economic, social and cultural rights. (See FIDH International Fact-finding Mission Report: «Ethnic minorities in Georgia». April 2005).  

Tensions between central power and regions with strong minorities' population are increased by the use of the official language and the current status of minorities' languages. Despite the European Framework Convention for Protection of Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages there is no existing strategy to protect minority languages. In this context, human rights violations against Azeri and Armenian minorities increased those last years.  

In Kvemo Kartli region, the Azeri minority faces serious human rights violations by officials. A growing number of reports of official harassment was registered. According to several community leaders, promises made by President Saakashvili to improve living conditions for these Azerbaijanis have not been fulfilled. The controversy comes as Saakashvili’s corruption crackdown zeroes in on ethnic Azeri traders in the southern Kvemo-Kartli region who are suspected of running smuggling operations into Azerbaijan.

On May 2005 more than 400 ethnic Azeris gathered in the district of Marneuli to protest what they claim is an ongoing campaign of repression by Kvemo-Kartli’s governor, Soso Mazmishvili, a member of Saakashvili’s ruling National Movement bloc. Kvemo-Kartli contains most of Georgia’s 500,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis, who work primarily as rural workers. Land distribution drives concerns in this regard. More than 70 percent of local Azeris still are not able to privatize or rent plots of land. Locals say that Georgian authorities disproportionately favour Georgian farmers in land privatization, thus leaving ethnic Azerbaijanis without land or forcing them to rent it from Georgian farmers at high prices. […]"

Document(s): Open document

23.02.2006 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Kvemo Kartli: Clashes between police and Azeri demonstrators demanding equal access to land ("Georgian Police Break Up Azeri Protest") [#44941],  [ID 5036]

Document(s): Open document

05.01.2006 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Main problems faced by Azeris and Armenians are economic integration and education; large part of population does not speak Georgian; on Georgian TV minority languages are broadcasted 20 minutes per week ("Implementation of Resolution 1415 (2005) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia [Doc. 10779]") [#41527],  [ID 5037]

"162. One of the main problems the Georgian authorities will have to tackle once the Framework Convention is ratified is the situation of the Azerbaijani and Armenian minorities living in Georgia. […]
163. According to the NGO's we met in November the main problem faced both by Armenians and Azerbaijanis living in Georgia is on the one hand economic integration and on the other hand education. We learnt to our great surprise that schools in the regions populated by Armenians and Azerbaijanis were offering education only in the Azeri and Armenian languages or in Russian and that a very large part of the population does not speak Georgian at all. Most of the television and radio programmes are broadcasted from the neighbouring countries and the nation wide Georgian TV only has a 20 minute news programme in every minority language once a week (there are five official minorities in Georgia so news are broadcasted only once a week for every minority).
164. On the other hand, teaching of minority languages also deserves attention. Azeri and Armenian children living outside the above-mentioned regions, but also other minorities, apart from Russians, e.g Ossetian, Ukrainian, Greek, Yezid, are rarely able to study their own languages in the schools. With those attending schools where Russian is the medium of instruction, there appears to a problem learning Georgian satisfactorily.
165. We consider it of utmost importance that the authorities ensure that all citizens of Georgia have sufficient command of the Georgian language, while at the same time respecting the cultural rights of the minorities living on Georgian territory."

Document(s): Open document

16.09.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Members of Georgia’s ethnic Azeri minority concerned that Iranian missionaries efforts would lead to divisions and conflict within their community ("Iranian Missionary Work Questioned") [#36846],  [ID 5038]

Document(s): Open document

02.06.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Forced marriages of underage Azerbaijani girls remain a problem in Ferma and villages in Kvemo Kartli ("Sad Plight of Underage Brides") [#32594],  [ID 5039]

Document(s): Open document

17.02.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Ethnic Azerbaijanis in southern Georgia complaining of ethnic discrimination after a series of police raids designed to stop smuggling hit the local economy hard ("Smuggling Crackdown Hurts Azeris") [#29070],  [ID 5040]

Document(s): Open document

02.2005 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

Position of Azeris in Kvemo Kartli Region of Georgia ("Obstacles Impeding the Regional Integration of the Kvemo Kartli Region of Georgia, ECMI Working Paper #23") [#33309],  [ID 5041]

"There is a potential for conflict in Kvemo Kartli and the two main foci for potential conflict are perceived discrimination against the Azeri community in Marneuli and Bolnisi rayons and the struggle for resources between original inhabitants and newcomers in Tsalka rayon. The first of these two potential conflicts has both political and socio-economic aspects, while the second is mainly socio-economic.
The fact that the Armenian population of Javakheti expresses its discontent much more openly than the Azeri population of Kvemo Kartli often leads observers to categorise Javakheti as a potential “trouble spot” and at the same time to neglect the underlying tensions in Kvemo Kartli.
Generally speaking, Azeris in Kvemo Kartli do not express their grievances openly. Any protest, when it occurs, is characterised by a short emotional explosion in response to a particular event and is normally over in the space of a couple of hours. However, conflict avoidance – the failure to address potential sources of conflict and to find solutions to problems that may cause discord – does little to prevent conflict in the medium to long term. As we have seen in this report, many
Azeris in Kvemo Kartli, especially members of the intelligentsia in Marneuli and Bolnisi rayons, feel that they are treated as second class citizens both in terms of representation in local power structures, and in terms of access to resources (especially good quality land). At present, there are no signs that the “latent conflict” that exists will become active as there is no outside “agitator” in either Georgia or Azerbaijan prepared to exploit the grievances of Georgia’s Azeris. However, changes in the outside environment at some time in the future – particularly in the political structure of Azerbaijan – could conceivably provide a fuse that could turn this conflict into one that is expressed more openly or even violently.
As well as political problems, there are also serious socio-economic problems that are common to most of Georgia. However, in Tsalka rayon, where economic problems are particularly serious and where the local infrastructure is more degraded than elsewhere, large-scale migration processes and the consequent competition for land and other resources have led to conflict between original inhabitants and new settlers. One lesson to be drawn from Tsalka is that intervention from outside, even if motivated by good intentions, can increase rather than reduce the potential for conflict, as BTC’s compensation programme has demonstrated. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

19.01.2005 - Source: Civil Georgia

Kvemo Kartli region: Clash occurred between Financial Police and group of local residents of Vakhtangisi village after police seized goods, which allegedly was smuggled from Azerbaijan ("Police Clash with ‘Smugglers’ in Azeri-Populated Kvemo Kartli") [#43458],  [ID 5042]

Document(s): Open document

17.09.2002 - Source:

IWPR: Controversial new language legislation may further isolate Georgia's 300,000-strong Azerbaijani minority ("15/09/2002 - IWPR: Georgian Azeris Locked Out By Language") [ID 5044]

"Vagif, a 34-year-old Azerbaijani from the small southern Georgian town of Marneuli, is by local standards a prosperous man. His house has a sheet iron roof with a large antenna, and inside his children watch Cartoon Network, just like their counterparts all over the world.

But Vagif is worried about his life and the future and asks for his surname not to be used. "If (President) Shevardnadze steps down tomorrow, the Azerbaijanis who live in Georgia, will be seriously worried about their security," he said. Most of the current opposition to the head of state seems to be either pro-Armenian or Georgian nationalist, he added.

On top of their purely political worries, this ethnic community has a more basic problem: almost all of Georgia's Azerbaijanis do not speak Georgian and have few opportunities to learn it. The linguistic isolation of such a large group could be storing up as yet unforeseen problems for Georgia, especially if a new draft law on the Georgian language is voted through parliament later this year.
Georgia has around 300,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis, most living in villages in the southern region of Kvemo Kartli, not far from the capital Tbilisi, and near the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan.
One reason for the region's strong local identity is that it is largely economically self-sufficient. The hard-working Azerbaijanis support themselves through farming and dominate Georgia's agricultural markets. [...]
Despite their proximity to the Georgian capital, lack of basic language skills has placed the Azerbaijanis in a complete information vacuum. [..]
Efforts to encourage people in the region to speak Georgian have been ineffectual. The State Language Chamber, a government body that's been charged with the task, organised free language courses for state employees in the region. But in two years just 120 people attended the classes.
A separate presidential programme for extra financing of Georgian language teaching in non-Georgian schools offered teachers bonuses of 50 lari (almost 22 US dollars) a month, a sum almost equivalent to their average salary, but even this did not attract the required number of teachers to the region.
A few years ago one of the Azerbaijani schools in the village of Nazarlo opened a Georgian department, recalls Mamed Mamedov, a local parliamentary deputy and the overwhelming majority of parents sent their first-grade children there. But four years later, when the children had finished primary education, they found that there was no one who could teach them history, biology or mathematics in Georgian.
"It's a big problem," said Kazanfar Gulamov, the headmaster of a school in the village of Kesalo. "To work successfully a teacher should speak Azeri as well, and in reality many of the Georgian language teachers don't have any special education."
After several years teaching Georgian in a village school, Tsiala Luarsabashvili decided to learn Azeri. "After that a lot changed, both with the pupils themselves and the progress they made," she said. "When the children realised that I know and understand their language they got closer to me."
This fragile situation could be further undermined this autumn if, as anticipated, the Georgian parliament passes a new language law. If a current draft under discussion is passed, knowledge of Georgian will be compulsory for anyone working in a state institution.
To some Azerbaijanis this is part of a campaign of veiled discrimination against their community, and analysts have warned the authorities that they should take care not to alienate them.
"In a situation, when ethnic Azerbaijanis, are inclined to regard Azerbaijan as the guarantor of their security and the regime in Baku often sees its compatriots in Georgia as the guarantor of stability in the relations between the two states, the Georgian leadership should use all its professional skills in the way it conducts its inter-ethnic policies in Kvemo Kartli," commented Emil Adelkhanov of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development in Tbilisi."

Document(s): 15/09/2002 - IWPR: Georgian Azeris Locked Out By Language

2002 - Source: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development

Report on the Azeri, Armenian and Meskhetian minorities ("Ethnic-Confessional Groups and Challenges to Civic Integration in Georgia. Azeri, Javakheti Armenian and Muslim Meskhetian Communities.") [#8276],  [ID 5043]

Document(s): Open document
cpidd-geo2002-minorities.pdf

07.2001 - Source: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development

CIPDD: Kvemo Kartli (namely, Marneuli, Gardabani) is the second largest ethnic enclave with large numbers of ethnic Azeri population ("Georgia's Membership in the Council of Europe, Achievements and Failures") [#10549],  [ID 5046]

"However, there are also problems related to ethnic enclaves, that is territories densely populated with ethnic minorities. Two largest ones are Javakheti – historical region in the South of Georgia, with some 95% of ethnic Armenian population (Javakheti is part of the administrative region of Samtskhe-Javakheti), and parts of the region of Kvemo Kartli (namely, Marneuli, Gardabani) with large numbers of ethnic Azeri population. Both these enclaves are situated on the border with Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively.
Major problems here consist of the social and cultural isolation of minority populations. Most of them do not speak Georgian, and with the importance of the Russian language declining, their level of knowledge of and participation in the public life is very weak. So is their sense of Georgian citizenship. This creates suspicions with regards to their loyalty among the majority population, while their social, economic and other grievances are easily ethnicized.
The Georgian government has not elaborated any policy towards ethnic enclaves. Understandably, any prospects of ethnically based autonomy that would only deepen the sense of isolation from Georgia are dismissed, but there is no proactive policy of integrating these minorities into the Georgian society. The
government only reacts to emerging problems – being so far reasonably successful in not allowing hidden tensions to develop into serious conflicts."

Document(s): cipdd-geo.pdf