ethnic minorities in Georgia

Groups say 25-year old’s fatal stabbing in Tbilisi was motivated by xenophobia

By | October 12th, 2018|Categories: Minorities|Tags: , , , , |

Vitali Safarov (Facebook). TBILISI, DFWatch--A young human rights activist who was stabbed to death in Tbilisi nearly two weeks ago was murdered by members of a neo-Nazi group, Georgian civic activists say. Vitali Safarov, a 25 year old employee of a Georgian non-governmental organization (NGO) advocating minority rights, was severely beaten and stabbed several [...]

NGOs criticize Georgia for not protecting minorities

By | May 29th, 2015|Categories: Minorities|Tags: , |

The overcrowded mosque in Batumi. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Georgia criticize the government for not doing enough to eliminate discrimination of religious minorities, and underline that over the last two years, the country has seen a number of conflicts on a religious […]

How Georgians view minorities: Protect minority groups but not gays

By | August 26th, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , |

One of the injured in the anti-gay rally on May 17, 2013. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–63 percent of Georgians think it is important to protect the rights of minorities, but they don’t want such protection extended to sexual minorities. National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Monday published the results of its newest survey of public […]

New report details obstacles for minorities in Georgia

By | July 1st, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: |

Exams in Marneuli, a predominantly ethnic Azeri town south of Tbilisi. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–There are many obstacles to integrating minorities in Georgia, according to a new report published on Thursday by the Ministry of Reconciliation and Civil Equality. Problems include access to information and education, not knowing the […]

How well did Georgia’s local election include minorities?

By | July 1st, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: |

From left to right: Zurab Jibghashvili, constitutional expert, Zaur Khalilov, Executive Director of Civic Integration Foundation, and Agit Mirzoyev, Director of the Analytical Center for Cooperation and Consultations Between Ethnicities. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–On June 23, DF Watch invited members of three non-governmental organizations working with minority issues to discuss how well ethnic minorities were able to participate in the June 15 local election. Our point of departure was the fact that […]

School children in Tbilisi harassed due to teacher neglect

By | April 19th, 2014|Categories: Minorities, Youth|Tags: , |

School children in Tbilisi are being harassed because of their religion, ethnicity, appearance or other reasons, a new study shows. (Ministry of Education.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A new study has found that children in Georgian schools are verbally and physically harassed because of their ethnicity, belief, appearance or for other reasons. The study is based on interviews with all pupils from 8th to 11th grade at six public […]

What can be done to improve integration of minorities?

By | April 17th, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , , |

Van Baiburt (left), Deputy Head of Armenian Union of Georgia, and Manana Nachkebia from the New Rightists Party. (Click on image to watch video.) (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–DFWatch organized a discussion about the problem minorities are experiencing with getting involved in politics and state affairs. A representative of a minority diaspora and a spokesperson for an opposition party participated in our discussion. […]

Discussion: Ethnic minorities and language skills

By | March 31st, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , , |

Agit Mirzoev (left), Executive Director of Analytical Center for Inter-ethnic Cooperation and Consultations, and Ali Babayev, from the Congress of Georgian Azerbaijanis. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Representatives of NGOs working with minority issues took part in a discussion organized by DFWatch.net about how ethnic minorities often lack skills in Georgia’s only official language – Georgian. Agit Mirzoev, Executive Director of Analytical […]

Debate: Minorities and local government reform in Georgia

By | March 20th, 2014|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , , |

Journalist Rusiko Machaidze, Zaur Khalilov from Civil Integration Fund and Levan Vepkhvadze of the Christian-Democratic Movement.  (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–On March 14 , DFWatch.net organized a discussion about ethnic minorities’ participation problems in pre-election process. The non-parliamentary opposition and representatives of NGOs working with minority rights participated […]

Language barrier prevents minorities from going into politics

By | December 30th, 2013|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , , , , |

Rusiko Machaidze, Agit Mirzoev, Tina Ghogheliani, Manana Nachkebia and Levan Vepkhvadze. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Participants at a round table discussion organized by DF Watch said lack of language skills is preventing ethnic minorities from engaging in politics in Georgia. The discussion was held on December 28, and the topic was what obstacles there are […]

Minorities play little role in Georgian politics

By | November 25th, 2013|Categories: Minorities, News|Tags: , , |

Alexandra Kalatozishvili (center) from Multinational Georgia, and Zaur Khalilov (right) from Civic Integration Foundation. (DF Watch.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Representatives of two non-governmental organizations told DF Watch about problems which remain in involving minorities in the election processes and political parties not been actively interested in having contact with minorities. Alexandra […]

Armenian Diocese gets involved in Georgian amnesty debate

By | January 29th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The Armenian Diocese in Georgia accuses President Mikheil Saakashvili of making provocative statements regarding an ethnic Armenian prisoner, and calls on him to avoid such language. In 2008, Georgian police detained Vahagn Chakhaliani, a Georgian […]

Muslims under pressure in Georgian village

By | November 8th, 2012|Categories: NGO news|Tags: |

`TBILISI, DFWatch — A lawyers group warns about religious differences in a village in western Georgia. The confrontation began on November 2 between Christian and Muslim Georgians in the village Nigvziani in the western part of the country. Controversy erupted when […]

How will ethnic minorities vote in the parliamentary elections?

By | August 19th, 2012|Categories: Opinion|Tags: |

Will number 5 strike first again? Today many citizens of Georgia ask themselves what will be their choice in the parliamentary elections, while politicians and analysts try to make prognoses about the electoral behavior of different groups in society, including ethnic […]

Georgian Puzzle – Minorities and New Challenges (Part II)

By | June 5th, 2012|Categories: Opinion|Tags: , |

by Arnold Stepanian, chairman of the movement Multinational Georgia.   Israel, the Israel Lobby and Georgian Authorities Georgian authorities’ interest in Israeli capital is hard to overestimate. Since 2003, the authorities have been made efforts to strengthen […]

Georgian Puzzle – Minorities and New Challenges

By | February 28th, 2012|Categories: Opinion|Tags: , |

Part 1: Russia and Georgia One cannot Play at Giveaway Since the Rose Revolution and the assumption of political power by Mikhail Saakashvili the scope of influence of the Russian Federation over Georgia has been weakened to that extent that the Russian Federation has […]