What it is like to be an ethnic minority in Georgia...

Accoridng to CIA World Factbook statistics the picture of Georgian population is as follows: Georgian 83.8%, Azeri 6.5%, Armenian 5.7%, Russian 1.5%, other 2.5% (2002 census). Ethnic minorities make up 16.2% of the population, which is twice less than in 1989. The population itself counts 4,615,807 people (July 2009 est.). I tried a web site for a National Statistics Office of Georgia, and all I could find there was population, they didn't show ethnic minority percentage.

As an Azeri living in Georgia, I wanted to share my experience about what it is like to be an ethnic minority in Georgia. I have also taken part in Civic Forum project implemented by Transparency International Georgia in 2006-2007. The basic idea of the project was to increase awareness among ethnic Azeris living in Kvemo Kartli region, concerning their legal rights, civic responsibility, and the country they lived in itself. Basic tools for that was teaching them Georgian language and conducting Civic Forums, thus giving them possibility to get more interest in integration themselves. This lets me speak about general image of ethnic minority issue in Georgia.

Me, living in the capital and having graduated from Georgian state university, speaking fluent Georgian, I feel myself pretty integrated into society, I don't face that much problems concerning ethnic and national issues that some of my other compatriots do. Though from time to time there might occur some minor issues concerning my religion. This is how it usually works in the capital.

The situation in regions is different. We got acquainted with a list of problematic issues that citizens of different nationalities face in the everyday life, sometimes the problems can become the matter of private conflicts. People in the regions are mostly peasants and in order to sell their goods (in Tbilisi) they have to speak Georgian, as they usually don't, they can often get cheated by the merchants and sell their goods for cheaper price. Lot's of misunderstandings occur at the boarders. As they are not familiar with their rights as citizens, they can easily be manipulated and become victims of corruption. There were also some cases, when a teacher of Georgian language in the village could not say more than just "sit down" and "stand up" in the language she was supposed to be teaching. There was case when we asked one of our students who his president was and he answered Aliyev. Not understanding Georgian they watch Azeri and Turkish TV channels, and the information about Georgia that they get, sometimes is not objective or is very little, so they are not always fully aware of what is going on in the country. Feeling oppressed in Georgia, the younger generation migrates to their historical motherland, where they at least can understand the language and be socially active, leaving behind the older generation.

It is very difficult to find a job if you don't speak the language. Unfortunately there are no other vacancies for people living in the region rather then working in the field and growing vegetables. The interesting thing is that when one of the big Azerbaijani oil companies started their business here in Georgia, they said that their priority was to employ Azeri population here, but the staff working on gas stations (where no specific education or language is needed) sometimes consists of people from Azerbaijan itself. I don't even know what to think about it, is it right or wrong, because I understand that there is also a big problem of unemployment in Azerbaijan too.

However, I really believe that Ethnic Minority issue needs more attention from Georgian government and International Organizations.

Hope that we, standing together, can improve living conditions in our Multinational Georgia and it will become a better place for everybody.

Overall, I love Georgia, I love Tbilisi and wherever I go I start missing it in a while, this is my country, this is my homeland.