Injustice in Kvemo Kartli
Land, education and religion
The first journalistic expedition took place in the Azerbaijani villages of the Kvemo Kartli region. The trip of the journalists coincided with the harvest in October. It was attended by eight representatives of national print media outlets, radio stations and television channels, as well as the editor-in-chief of the Samkhretis Karibche newspaper of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
For two days, journalists met with representatives of local non-governmental organizations, colleagues and the population, trying to find out and understand what is happening in this region, what problems bother the Azerbaijani community there and what hopes it has. The Azerbaijani community is the second largest in the country after Georgians, and is the majority in this region.
During the meetings, several problems were revealed:
The Azerbaijani population turned out to have a very low level of awareness of social and political processes throughout the country. Accordingly, their involvement in these processes is low.
The level of confidence of local residents in the government was also low. And the main problem they said was the unfair distribution of land.
The Azerbaijani people and representatives of non-governmental organizations expressed dissatisfaction with the practice of appointing people to local and government posts. They also provided examples of religious discrimination.
Mission participants:
Khatuna Katsitadze, Caucasus Internet Media Group
Dadu Dvali, Caucasus Internet Media Group
Maia Tsiklauri, Liberali magazine
Malkhaz Chkadua, Interpressnews agency
David Kanchashvili, netgazeti.ge
Irina Kvanchakhadze, GIPA radio
Nino Narimanishvili, Samkhretis Karibche newspaper
Maia Shamanauri, GIPA radio
Levan Akhalaia, Green Wave radio