Giorgi Gakharia (Imedinews photo). PM Giorgi Gakharia declared full quarantine throughout the entire territory of Georgia on Monday evening. The quarantine will be enforced from 8 am Tuesday on and it prohibits free movement by any public transportation by 9 pm. From 9 pm till 8 am morning a curfew is being imposed. Any type [...]
Kelly Degnan. (it.usembassy.gov) President Donald Trump nominates Kelly C. Degnan of California to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia, who currently serves as the Political Advisor to the Commander of United States Naval Forces Europe – United States Naval Forces Africa Ms. Degnan, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of [...]
Georgia signs a deal with Irish lowcoster Ryanair, which will launch flights to various destinations from Tbilisi and later from Kutaisi airports, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development says. Tickets for a new route between Tbilisi and Milan Bergamo are already on sale on the carrier's website. Flights start on November 6 and will be [...]
Robert Hamilton. (VoA) Voice of America’s Georgian Service’s Anna Kalandadze talked to Robert Hamilton, Professor of Eurasian Studies at the US Army War College in Washington about trending topics in current-day Georgia. VoA: How do you assess the Anti-Russia protests that are ongoing in Tbilisi? What are the protests all about? Robert Hamilton: The [...]
Mount Tetnuldi seen from Mestia, the capital of Svaneti. (1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Two women from Belarus have died and one survived with injures in an hiking accident in Svaneti, on the slopes of Mount Tetnuldi, a 4,858m high peak in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. The three tourists, aged between 36 and 60, departed from [...]
EU monitor in Georgia. (eeas.europa.eu) On the eve of 11th anniversary of Russo-Georgian War of 2008, the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia issues the statement saying that fundamental human rights of the conflict-affected population continue to be violated and Russia keeps on violating the ceasefire agreement by maintaining and even increasing its [...]
(PrimeTime.) On the eve of 11th anniversary of the 2008 August War between Russia and Georgia, Tbilisi city authorities are considering changing the name of Moscow Avenue. "I confirm that this issue is on the table and included in our agenda," Giorgi Tkemaladze, Chairman of Tbilisi City Council, said on Wednesday. "When the decision [...]
Hans Binnendjik (VoA). The NATO was founded in April of 1949 by Washington treaty, and at a time aimed to prevent Soviet aggression in Europe. In 21st century, the NATO’s role and agenda has changed. But the Alliance remains a deterrent against growing Russian threat in Europe. Ani Chkhikvadze, reporter for VOA’s Georgian Service, [...]
(Radio Way.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Up to 40 people were injured in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge Sunday as locals clashed with riot police over a hydropower plant. The confrontation started in the village Birkiani after police units entered the gorge to protect company employees who are working on the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the river [...]
Gldani prison in Tbilisi. Georgia showed the most significant drop in incarceration rate among Council of Europe member countries between 2008 and 2019. However, it is the second among countries with particularly high incarceration rates just after Russia, according to new statistics released on Tuesday by the CoE on the situation in European prisons [...]
President George H.W. Bush will be missed not only as a historical leader but also for the style of leadership he brought to Washington: calculated, diligent, often bipartisan, driven by conviction, guided by humility, and resolute. Georgia owes him a great debt. […]
Paul Stronski. (VOA) Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze discussed aftermath and fallout of the first round of presidential elections in Georgia with leading Eurasia analysts in Washington. Anna Kalandadze is VOA Georgian chief and can be followed on twitter @anavoa. VOA: Latest Presidential elections were marred by dozens of procedural irregularities, inappropriate media coverage, [...]
Maia Otinashvili (Photo: Goga Aptsiauri, RFE/RL). Several wrestlers and possibly other acting and retired athletes had played a key role in the release of 37 y/o Georgian woman from Tskhinvali prison, the family says, which was confirmed also by Georgia’s State Security Service (SUS). […]
(Facebook.) President Giorgi Margvelashvili has announced his decision not to run for the presidential seat in the fall and slammed Georgia’s ruling party for attempts to ‘discredit’ him. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia keeps on cracking down on educational institutions linked to the Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara has accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. […]
Robert Hamilton. Anna Kalandadze of Voice of America/Georgia spoke to Robert Hamilton, Professor of Eurasian Studies at US Army War College on his recollections of Russo-Georgian war of 2008 and where the country is going ten years after. […]
Michel Kazatchkine is former Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The Parliament of Georgia is currently engaged in a promising debate to reform its drug laws, possibly by ending the criminalization of drug use and possession, and seeking alternatives for low-level actors in the drug trade. This would go a long way to enacting an effective drug control framework that puts individuals first, with great benefits for communities in terms of security and public health. […]
Commissioners Pavel Bém (left) and Michel Kazatchkine. Two commissioners visiting Tbilisi urge the government of Georgia to go ahead with bold reform of drug policies, insisting that ending punishment does not mean encouraging or condoning the use of drugs, but rather it empowers individuals and communities […]
Paul Stronski is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program, where his research focuses on the relationship between Russia and neighboring countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Voice of America’s Ani Chkhikvadze sat down with Paul Stronski, Carnegie Endowment fellow in Washington DC to discuss Georgia’s domestic and foreign affairs. […]
Khayal Azizov (Facebook). Azerbaijani journalist Khayal Azizov, who has fled from his country, blames the Azerbaijani authorities in illegal persecution and psychological oppression in Georgia. […]
The Constitution of Georgia stipulates that the state language of country is Georgian. The status of the official language creates grounds for, on the one hand, the social isolation and exclusion from economic and political spheres of people who do not speak Georgian and, on the other hand, the banning on the use of a minority language in administrative domains. […]
People still actively request to determine the gender of the future child in advance during first trimester of the pregnancy in the municipalities inhabited by ethnic Azerbaijani people. 31-years-old Sakina Alieva from Marneuli has 5-years-old boy. Before having the boy she got two abortions because she was expecting girls. […]
“My elder daughter has thalassemia. When doctors diagnosed her, we learned that it is a genetic disease and mostly it happens with children when they are born as a result of cousin-marriages. I’m married with my cousin. If I were aware of the risk, I would not have married him; […]
Michael Carpenter (PennBidenCenter.) To assess the US national security strategy issues, efficiency of the Trump administration and threats coming from increasingly assertive Russia, Voice of America’s (VOA) Nana Sajaia interviewed Washington-based Michael Carpenter, Senior Executive Director at Pen Biden Center. […]
Nika Melia, the head of UNM ruling body, surrounded by party members, reads the address at Saturday briefing. Georgia’s former ruling party expresses solidarity against the “political persecution” of its leader, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is under arrest in Kiev, Ukraine. […]
Razdakhan checkpoint near Akhalgori (cominf.org). De facto authorities of South Ossetia shut down the single checkpoint connecting the breakaway republic with Georgia proper due to the recently introduced public holiday, […]
(1tv.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch–Three suspects and one police officer have been killed in a massive anti-terror operation in a Tbilisi suburb against suspected Chechens. Four police were also wounded in the standoff, which lasted over 20 hours, a spokesperson for the State Security Service of Georgia (SUS) said at a briefing Wednesday evening. […]
Damon Wilson is an American foreign policy advisor and the current executive vice president at the Atlantic Council of the United States, a foreign and public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. To assess the past local elections in Georgia, , Voice of America’s (VOA) Nana Sajaia interviewed Washington-based Damon Wilson, Executive Vice-President of US Atlantic Council. […]
We would like to respond to the statements related to the selection of Georgian Public Defender and call on the Parliament of Georgia to ensure civil society participation in the process of selecting the main human rights defender of the country. It is well-known to everyone that according to legislation, a Public Defender may be nominated [...]
According to official statistics 10,7% of the Georgian population – about 399,000 persons – are Muslims. 333,000 of them are ethnic Azerbaijani. Part of them thinks that in accordance to the Muslim tradition, a girl shall wear a hijab over 14. “I want to learn and become a teacher. If I do not study, I know in future I will have hard life. I was not allowed into the school because I am wearing a hijab. I do not know what will happen now. […]
For years democratization is seen as a top down process of constitutional engineering, nation-building, and market reforms. Until the early 2000s, states in former Eastern Europe saw their membership of NATO and the European Union as the final stage of consolidating their democracy. […]
Khayal Azizov Ethnic Azerbaijani people make up 6.3% of the Georgian population that is 233,000 persons. It is the biggest ethnic minority community in the country though their voice is least heard here. […]
William Courtney (rand.org) William Courtney, former US Ambassador to Georgia told Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze that “President Putin’s August 8 visit underlined Moscow’s apparent determination to retain control of Abkhazia despite the costs to Russia’s international reputation. But the Kremlin […]
Daniel Kochis (Heritage Foundation) Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze spoke to Daniel Kochis, a Europe policy specialist in the Margaret Thatcher’s Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, a US Conservative think tank, ahead of US Vice President’s visit to Tbilisi. […]
Mikheil Saakashvili in November, 2016. TBILISI, DFWatch–Ukraine has stripped former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of his citizenship, shortly after a visit to Georgia by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. A Ukrainian member of parliament first reported it on Facebook, and the information […]
Helmut Kohl (wikiwand.com) Helmut Kohl, in hand with Edward Shevardnadze, Michael Gorbachev, and George H.W. Bush, convinced Europe to rise to the occasion and believe that history can progress, that unity and national sovereignty can go hand-in-hand, and that conflict is not inevitable when Germany is united. […]
Luke Coffey To assess the visit of NATO Parliamentary assembly to Tbilisi, Georgia, discuss future of Transatlantic relations and Pres. Trump’s visit to Europe Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze spoke to Luke Coffey, Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, […]
“Georgia is not a post-Soviet state. It is a European state […] So, looking at a free trade agreement with the U.S. is kind of a maturing of the relationship.” To assess the recent visit of Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili to the U.S., Voice of America’s (VOA) Anna Kalandadze interviewed British diplomat and a political observer Alexandra Hall Hall. […]
Tamar Chugoshvili is Parliament’s First Deputy Chairperson. In 2010-2012 she was the Chairperson Georgia’s of Young Lawyers’ Association. In total, 33 amendments have been made to the Constitution of Georgia, adopted in 1995, however, only two rounds of these amendments have been of fundamental importance […]
Statement of Civil Society and Media organizations against alleged revocation of the status from the-now seven self-governing cities in Georgia […]
Georgian court's decision regarding Rustavi 2 looks like 'an attempt to silence opposition voices', US Senator John McCain said to Voice of America's Georgian service. "I am deeply concerned that the Georgian Supreme Court’s decision regarding Rustavi 2 appears to be an attempt to silence opposition voices in the press and curtail the country’s vibrant, pluralistic, [...]
Georgia Oil and Gas Corporation building on Kakheti av. (Ifact.ge) Between 2012 and 2014, the Georgia Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) spent 3.8 million lari (about $US2.26 million) to finance patrols watching to make sure nobody was stealing gas from oil or gas pipelines. […]
Shorena Tetruashvili (1tv.ge). TBILISI, DFWatch–Top prosecutors in Georgia now say the target of an assassination attempt within the Orthodox Church was not the patriarch, but one of his advisers. In an interview with the newspaper Rezonansi, POG spokeswoman Natia Sukhiashvili specifically […]
Paul A. Goble. (VoA.) To assess the latest developments in the domestic and foreign affairs of Georgia, Voice of America’s (VOA) Anna Kalandadze interviewed Washington-based long-standing Eurasia observer Paul Goble. The Georgian-language interview first appeared on VOA. Here is an English version: […]
Damon Wilson, Executive Vice-President of the US Atlantic Council. To assess the visit by three top US Senators, John Mccain (R- AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Amy Klobucher (D-MN) to Georgia and Ukraine, Voice of America’s (VOA) Anna Kalandadze interviewed Washington-based Damon Wilson, Executive Vice-President of US Atlantic Council. […]
New GPB director Vasil Maglaperidze. (Channel 1.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The supervisory board of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB) on Thursday selected as new director a candidate with close ties to the ruling party and personal links to billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The decision to appoint Vasil Maglaperidze […]
(Georgian Tourism Administration photo.) Almost 5.9 million international visitors arrived in Georgia during 2016, which is 7.9 percent more than in the same period last year, the head of Georgian National Tourism Administration said on Friday. Out of these tourists (who stayed in the country during 24 hours and longer) […]
Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Finance, insists ‘this is really a temporary decline.’ TBILISI, DFWatch–The opposition in Georgia is blaming the government of impoverishing the country after the lari dropped in value again and is approaching a ‘psychological’ benchmark rate of 2.50 against the US dollar. Its official rate against USD was set as 2.4195 […]
Tbilisi, DFWatch – Georgia had a 19.5 percent growth in tourism in the nine months in 2016, according to the data released by National Tourism Administration on Monday. […]
(official photo) Tbilisi, DFWatch – US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned occupation of Georgian territories by Russia by issuing a short statement on 8th anniversary of Russo-Georgian war. […]
Raul Hajymba (Ria Novosty) TBILISI, DFWatch–The de facto president of Abkhazia Raul Hajymba (Khadzhimba) told Russian media that the murderer of Georgian IDP Giga Otkhozoria won’t be handed over to the Georgian side. […]
A screenshot from the project’s website (mshibzia.com) The new Georgian social media campaign aimed at reaching out to Abkhaz society is an example of a futile activism informed by nationalist narratives which are being used by Georgian political elites to distract society from the core issue of unresolved ethnic conflict […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia is ranked 85th among 163 of the world’s countries in the latest Global Peace Index published by the think tank Institute for Economics and Peace. Seven more European countries scored lower than Georgia, including all of Georgia’s […]
Oath taking ceremony on Freedom Square (DFWatch) As a tradition, an oath taking ceremony was held on Freedom Square, however for the first time it was also held in other places – in Kakheti, Samegrelo, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Imereti and Adjara. Totally 432 recruits all over Georgia took an oath. […]
Logo of Election Administration of Georgia. TBILISI, DFWatch–The Central Electoral Commission (CESKO) announced the preliminary results of the by-elections to Sakrebulos (‘municipal assemblies’), which were held on 22 May in nine majoritarian electoral districts. […]
Russian-Abkhazian checkpoint between Khurcha and Nabakevi. (Sputnik) An ethnic Georgian man was fatally wounded by an Abkhaz border officer in an incident that occurred at the Khurcha-Nabakevi checkpoint at the de facto border with Abkhazia, inside the territory under control of Georgian authorities. The video (+18) from a surveillance camera distributed by Rustavi 2 [...]
The carrier mosquito, Aedes, is present in Georgia, but the disease is not, NCDC representative was quoted as saying. Tbilisi, DFWatch – Georgia’s Black Sea coast is among the European regions which are at the highest risk of a Zika virus outbreak during late spring and summer, a statement made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reads. […]
Ucha Nanuashvili (Ombudsman.ge) The Public Defender of Georgia released a statement on International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), May 17, in which he deplores that “no effective measures have been taken for raising public awareness or establishing the culture of tolerance in the country.” “A timely, efficient and accountable investigation of hate crimes [...]
43% of the population of Kvemo Kartli is Muslim, 40% in Achara , and 12% in Kakheti (DFWatch) TBILISI, DFWatch–The 2014 census sheds light on issues related to ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities in Georgia. The size of all ethnic minorities fell drastically. While Georgia has lost 15% (658 thousand) of its population since the 2002 census, the number […]
Jemal Beridze (Facebook) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian media reported about three cases of homophobic violence which took place last month in Tbilisi. The Facebook user, Jemal Beridze wrote on 23 April that he was assaulted by three unknown attackers for wearing an earring. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–There are 223 deserted villages in Georgia, according to the census conducted in 2014 and published last week by the National Statistics Office (GeoStat). In 2002, when the previous census was conducted, […]
Photo by MFA of Latvia TBILISI, DFWatch–Foreign ministers of Europe’s northern and eastern countries call on EU member states to go ahead with a plan to allow 90 days visa-free visits for Georgian and Ukrainian citizens. On 21–22 April, a meeting of foreign ministers of Baltic, […]
Undated photo of Abu Omar TBILISI, DFWatch–The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced that according to its sources military commander of the Islamic State, Tarkhan Batirashvili, was seriously injured in an American airstrike on 4 March, yet not killed, Reuters reported. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch–A former member of government and secretary of an opposition party was shot by unknown attackers on Saburtalo cemetery on Friday afternoon. His injuries are not life-threatening. Aleksi Petriashvili with his wife, journalist Eka Mishveladze (Facebook) Aleksi Petriashvili was shot at and wounded at the Saburtalo […]
Tbilisi, Dfwatch – Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili hopes that a progress done by Georgia will be ‘adequately assessed’ on the upcoming NATO Summit in Wales, but he also thinks it is not advisable to speak of this issue in advance, as it raises false expectations among his fellow counterparts. […]
Almost 10 years have passed since the UN, in an attempt to help solve the Abkhaz conflict, launched the Document on "Distribution of Competences between Sukhumi and Tbilisi". Basically, this was an effort to have the Abkhaz and the Georgian sides to the conflict sit down at the negotiating table and work out modalities for a [...]
