U.S. English Foundation Research

GEORGIA

Language Research

Minorities can participate in political (representatives in Parliament) and cultural life (theatres, cultural associations, etc.). They have pre-school institutions and schools, and some minority language radio and TV broadcasting exists as well as some newspapers.

Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Jewish, Ossetian and Abkhazian (only in Abkhazia) are taught in all levels of education (primary, secondary, vocational, teacher training, university). Georgian is the mandatory language in the educational system but there are schools with instruction in Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani language. There are also Russian-Armenian, Russian- Azerbaijani, Russian-Ossetian, Russian- Abkhazian, Georgian-Russian, Georgian-Armenian, Georgian-Azerbaijani, Georgian-Russian-Ossetian, Russian-Armenian- Azerbaijani and Russian - Jewish schools.

ARMENIANS

Language: Armenian

There are 183 Armenian schools in Georgia. A Department of Armenian Language and Literature exists at the Pedagogical University and Tbilisi State University.

Newspapers: "Vrastan", "Faros" (in Ahalkalaki) and "Arshaluis" (Ninotsminda).

Radio: Over an hour's broadcast a day

The Armenian Dramatic Theatre named after Petros Adamian operates in Tbilisi. Children's folklore ensembles "Haik" and "Tsiatsan" exist under the auspices of the Armenian Cultural Charity Society. There is an Association of Armenian writers at the Union of Writers of Georgia and a Union of Armenian Writers of Georgia "Vernatunts".

Armenians participate in the political and economic life of the State. Three MP's of the Parliament of Georgia are Armenians.

Societies: The Armenian Cultural Charity Society; the Charity Association "Charles Aznavur" (Ahaltsikhe); the Society "Veratsenunts" (Batumi), the Society "Sayat Nova", etc.

ASSYRIANS

The International Assyrian Congress in Georgia was registered by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia in April 1992 and is considered to be a representative body of the Assyrian community. Its main purpose is the preservation and development of the Assyrian language, culture, traditions and maintenance of contacts with its compatriots abroad. The Assyrian cultural center "Bet Nakhrain" operates in the city of Gardabani. The language of speech is new Aramaic. A newspaper, "Aviuta", is also published.

AZERBAIJANIS

Language: Azerbaijani belongs to Ogoz group of Turkic languages.

There are 159 Azerbaijani schools in Georgia. There are Azerbaijani kindergartens in almost every region where Azeris live.

There is a Faculty of Azerbaijani Language and Literature at the Pedagogical State University.

The Azerbaijani language is taught at the Department of Oriental Studies of Tbilisi State University.

Press: "Gurjistan", "Samgori" (Georgian – Azerbaijani newspaper), "Akhali Marneuli" (published in Marneuli a Georgian- Azerbaijani newspaper), "Heirat" (Marneuli), "Region" (Rustavi), "Chanlibel" (private).

Radio broadcasting: Daily 30-minute news and a music program exist.

Television broadcasting: Irregular

There is an Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Tbilisi.

Local government: At places with a concentrated population, Azerbaijanis participate actively in the activities organized by the local authorities.

They participate in political life, and take an active part in the country's economic life. Four MPs are Azerbaijanis.

Charity cultural associations: "Daiagi", "Birlick", "Umid", "Ozan", "Geirat", International society "Sazi" for friendship and cooperation between Georgian and Azerbaijani people.

GERMANS

Language: Mainly Russian, partially Georgian

German is taught as a foreign language in schools of Georgia. There is a German profile school and also Department of German language and literature at the State University and also at the Institute of Foreign Languages.

Newspapers: "Kaukasishe Post", "Kaukasishe Zeitung" (German-Georgian)

A Child folklore ensemble exists in Rustavi. Society "Ainung" periodically organizes exhibitions in Tbilisi for artists of German origin.

GREEKS

There are two different Greek groups: Eliphons ("Romeos", "Elinos"), who speak the Greek language, and Urum who speak Turkish.

The Federation of Greek communities consists of 23 communities from all regions of Georgia. In principle, the Federation represents the interests of all Greek citizens of Georgia.

Through the initiative of the Federation the following was done:

The Center of the Greek Culture including an Art School was established in Tbilisi. The newspaper "Elinika Diaspora" is regularly published. Furthermore, the Greek community of Batumi issues the newspaper "Batumi"

The Greek language is taught in schools and places of their concentrated settlement as well as in groups existing within the communities.

Assistance is provided to invalids, orphans and families living in poverty through public organizations, charitable societies and the churches of Greece and Cyprus.

Regular contacts are maintained with the Greek Diaspora in various countries of the world, governmental and public organizations, the churches of Georgia and Cyprus, and the Universal (Ecumenical) Patriarchy in Constantinople.

Georgia was the first among former Soviet republics, where after a long break Greeks received an opportunity to study their native language.

JEWS

Language: for Georgian Jews - Georgian, for Russian Jews - Russian, Yiddish for a minority

Newspapers: "Menorah" (in Georgian), "Shalom" (in Russian)

Culture: Jewish Cultural Center that was established by the AJJDC, Jewish Museum, Association of Georgian-Israel Cultural Connections of the Georgian Academy of Science.

Education: Jewish Sunday School; Day School; Open Jewish University established by AJJDC; Ulpan, established by Sokhnut and the Youth Educational Center, established at the Jewish Day School. There are courses of Hebrew at the latter.

Jews actively participate in the country's political and economic life. Three MPs are of Jewish origin.

KISTS

Language: Kist dialect of the Chechen-Ingushetian language as well as the Georgian language.

Command of Native Language: Almost everybody speaks in the Kist dialect within the family unit.

Education: They receive education in Georgian.

KURDS

Language: Kurmanji (dialect of Kurdish)

In some of the Tbilisi schools, the optional teaching of the Kurdish language begins in the 5th grade. Literature in the Kurdish language is available.

Radio: 15-minute Kurdish programs are broadcast once a week.

There are 2 Kurdish folklore ensembles. The Theatre "Kurmanji" operates in Tbilisi, which is the only Kurdish public theatre in the entire world and a vocal-instrumental band.

One MP of Georgia is a Kurd.

Societies: The charity fund "Iakti", The Union of Yezidis of Georgia (a Society of Kurdish citizens of Georgia), The International Kurdish Informational Center as well as women, youth and religious organizations.

The societies maintain relationships with the Kurdish cultural centers in Bonn, Dusseldorf and Brussels, as well as with other Kurdish societies operating in Paris, Istanbul, Diyirbakir, Aleppo and Stockholm.

LEKS

Language: Khundzur

Education: At Russian schools.

Societies: None, but they participate in the Association of the People of Northern Caucasus Living in Georgia.

POLES

It is impossible to present exact statistical data concerning the number of Poles in Georgia due to the fact that there is no information from the last census and, because of well-known political reasons, many Poles adopted other nationalities in their passports during the Stalinist era. There are currently an estimated 2,000 ethnic Poles in Georgia. Tbilisi is still the center of residence for Poles in Georgia. A considerable number of Poles live in Kutaisi, Batumi, Rustavi and Ahaltsikhe.

At present the Union "Polonia" numbers about 800, not including young people under 18. The Union includes persons from the third, fourth and sometimes fifth generation of Poles who are mostly assimilated with the Georgian population.

RUSSIANS

Language: Russian

There are about 150 Russian schools. There are also Russian departments in schools; kindergartens, Russian language and literature departments at high schools, Russian departments in various universities in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Sukhumi, Tskhinvali etc. There are several Russian churches.

Mass Media Press: "Svabodnaia Gruzia", "Rech", "Vecherni Tbilisi" and "Zakavkazskie Vedomosti" (Russian army newspaper), "Zaria Vostoka", "Batumi" etc. Magazines – "Literaturnaia Gruzia", the literary almanac "Mtatsminda", etc.

Broadcasting: There are daily programs that last several hours.

Television broadcasting: Program "Vestnik" and two Russian Federation channels.

There are three professional theaters, and a section of Russian writers at the Union of the Writers of Georgia and Russian Cultural Center.

There are 3 Russian MPs in the Parliament of Georgia.

Associations: There are about 10 associations of Russians. The biggest is the Russian Cultural and Educational Association of Georgia, which have 9 branches and 16,000 members.

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Updated (April 2004)

BROADCASTING

At present the state TV (First Channel) broadcasts two Russian-language daily news programs: Vestnik (20 minutes) and Vesti.

In cooperation with Caucasus state television companies, the Georgian private television, Rustavi-2, provides broadcasting in Russian covering Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. There are eight independent broadcasting companies in Tbilisi and about 45 regional television stations and several radio stations in Georgia. Most of them are dependent on the state funding. There is no public service broadcasting in Georgia.

Ajara TV of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara broadcasts news in three foreign languages: Russian, English and French.

In the regions densely populated with ethnic minorities, particularly in the border zones (Akhaltsikhe bordering Armenia and Marneuli bordering Azerbaijan) the majority of the population does not speak Georgian and thus they watch Armenian and Azerbaijan television channels.

The state radio company daily broadcasts programs in the Azeri (30 minutes), Armenian (one hour) and Kurdish language (15 minutes). Recently this station got a new transmitting frequency which is; however, inaccessible to the regions where these minorities live without additional equipment. Thus, the station covers Azerbaijan and Armenia but does not reach the minorities living in Georgia.

There are two private television channels in the Samtskhe Javakheti Region (South Georgia) which is densely populated by the Armenian ethnic minority, one in Akhaltsikhe (ATV-12) and the second one in Ninotsminda (TV Parvana). They broadcast irregularly in the Russian, Georgian and Armenian languages.

The Tbilisi-based Georgian radio company, Green Wave, which established its station in South Ossetia, broadcasts 24 hours in the Ossetian language.

The Kvemo Kartli Region is populated mainly by Azerbaijanis. There are no other programs either in Russian or in Azerbaijanian except Vestnik. The inhabitants appealed to the state television channel to allocate some time for broadcasting in Azerbaijanian, but their application was rejected.

One non-governmental organization, called Multilingual Georgia, which currently runs a multilingual monthly newspaper for minorities, prepared a project on establishing private multilingual radio for minorities, but it has not won the interest of either local or international donors so far.

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

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Updated (May 2007)

OSCE HIGH COMMISSIONER ON NATIONAL MINORITIES HELPS ETHNIC ARMENIANS IMPROVE THEIR EDUCATION

A new national system of examination, which came into force in 2005, has made it increasingly difficult for national minorities with limited knowledge of the state language to pass the entrance exams for higher education. They face the dilemma - either to learn Georgian or to leave the country.

In the Javakheti region, where 95 percent of population is ethnic Armenian, the problem is acute. Most of the people speak only Armenian or Russian. Therefore, only two out of twenty-five applicants passed the entrance exams after the new system was introduced in 2005. Fortunately, the situation has changed owing to a programme initiated by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Today, young people in Javakheti have more opportunities to learn Georgian, which increases their chances of passing the exams and being able to stay in the country.

Before 2005, the majority of Javakheti's young people had to go to Armenia or Russia to further their education. In Armenia, for instance, they have also experienced difficulties since many Javakheti residents speak a dialect and therefore have a limited mastery of literary Armenian.

In Georgia, the state language was initially taught only to civil servants, for whom "Language Houses" were established in Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda. Along with the 2005 entrance exam results, however, it was decided to open language courses for students as well.

In regard to these courses, Keti Naskhidashvili, Coordinator of the Ninotsminda Language House, said that at the beginning of the course, students knew only the Georgian alphabet and a few words. Nevertheless, they are very motivated, work hard and rarely miss the class.

These specialized programs for young learners have already had a positive results: In 2006, 19 out of 34 Javakheti residents passed the university exams, with only three failing the language component. Whilst in 2005, they took only a simplified version of the exam, a year later they took the same test as all applicants.

In the past, there was little interest in learning the state language, but now there is a shortage of teachers in Javakheti as demand increases by the day. Some students walk several kilometers from their villages to attend classes.

Elmira Kspoyan is Assistant Coordinator at the Ninotsminda Language House: "A year ago, we went from door to door to enlist students, explaining to young people the importance of learning the state language. Today, the number of students wanting to enroll is so high that we could not accept about twenty applicants."

Georgia's Ministry of Education and the OSCE High Commissioner have been working together to meet the growing demand. In 2005, a new textbook was introduced for students from grades 7 to 11 based on an interactive methodology, while regional teachers of Georgian in minority schools were also offered training courses.

Thanks to these efforts and the success of the 2006 applicants, more young ethnic Armenians from the Javakheti region are expected to take next year's admission exams. Both teachers and the OSCE High Commissioner's office are hopeful that, as a result, more of them will be able to enter Georgian higher education institutions.

Source: Vardzelashvili, M. and Pavlo Byalyk "OSCE High Commissioner helps Georgia's ethnic Armenians improve education opportunities", May 4, 2007, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Homepage, http://www.osce.org/hcnm/item_2_24167.html

TWO TV STATIONS FOR ARMENIANS IN JAVAKHETI REGION

Ethnic tensions have long been a challenge to stability in Javakheti, where 95 percent of residents have little or no knowledge of Georgian. In the past, they found themselves in an information vacuum. Receiving news mainly from Russian and Armenian channels, they were better informed of events outside Georgia than of those within their own region.

In 2003, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, in collaboration with Tbilisi-based Internews Georgia, launched a project to develop two TV companies in Javakheti: Parvana TV in Ninotsminda and ATV-12 in Akhalkalaki.

In regard to the TV channels, Genadi Uchumbegashvili, Executive Director of Internews, said: "In 2003, I would have hesitated to call these studios TV companies. ATV-12 and Parvana had one amateur analogue video camera and one video cassette recorder each. They could at most retransmit programs from foreign channels in their communities."

Thanks to the joint project, re-equipping the TV studios began in 2004. Both stations now have three professional digital video cameras and three digital editing suites. Their journalists were also retrained by international experts, including specialists from the BBC.

At present, Parvana TV, for example, has three news programs and broadcasts six hours a day. Next year they plan to increase daily broadcasting to 12 hours and extend coverage to the Tsalka district.

ATV-12 in Akhalkalaki also broadcasts daily news, but another of its priorities is music programming for young people.

Both Parvana TV and ATV-12 began retransmitting Georgian-language news programs in September 2003 and simultaneously translating them into Armenian.

The High Commissioner's office expects both TV companies to become self-financing in time. So far, OSCE support covers translation costs only, other funding comes from commercials and donations.

With a staff of 22 people, Parvana TV works with governmental and non-governmental organizations to mobilize funds and support in every possible way. Some of its programs already have their own private sponsors.

Internews' Director is proud that efforts to develop the companies have been fruitful. A similar project has already been launched in the Azeri-populated region of Kvemo Kartli in May 2006 and staff members from the two Javakheti companies will share their experiences with their new counterparts.

The collaboration between Internews and regional TV companies is a long-term undertaking. But as both Parvana and ATV-12 are now able to continue their work independently, the project's primary objective has already been accomplished.

Source: Vardzelashvili, M. and Pavlo Byalyk "OSCE High Commissioner helps fill the information gap for minorities in Georgia", May 17, 2007, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Homepage, http://www.osce.org/hcnm/item_2_24498.html

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