Tag Archives: Georgia

Chechens living in Georgia feel marginalised

JAN. 28 2015, DUISI/Georgia (The Conway Bulletin) —- The Pankisi Gorge lies in Georgia in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains. It has gained some infamy over the past decade as a redoubt for radical Islamists fighting Russia over the borther in Chechnya and Dagestan and also as the birthplace of Omar al-Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, who is a senior commander within the IS radical group.

Here the Muslim Kists, Georgia’s Chechens, represent a cultural oddity and a possible danger in a country already ridden by ethnic divisions and separatist movements.

Makvala Margoshvili sat in the shade of an arbour in her blooming garden. She slowly sipped her dark tea. This is her homeland. Makvala is the head of the Kist folk music ensemble Aznach, which means voice in English. Nazy, Makvala’s English-speaking niece, summed up the problems.

“For a Chechen is hard to be a Chechen without instilling fear in the others,” she said.

Within a wider Russophobic post-Soviet perspective, Georgia has always had a favourable attitude towards Chechen separatism in Russia. During two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s, a stream of refugees and fighters entered the country through its porous border with Russia’s North Caucasus bringing along so-called Arab friends and fundamentalist ideas.

Despite the relative harmony in the valley, the Pansiki Gorge’s reputation for rough and tumble remains. Poverty and segregation are a dangerous mix leading to radicalisation but in the Pansiki Gorge there has been little investment by the central government.

There is plenty of resentment directed towards the central government. Nazy said that people living in the Pansiki Gorge often felt marginalised.

“Even harder, however, is for the others to look at us for what we really are beyond the stereotypes of our troubled history,” she said.
>>By Gianluca Pardelli
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Georgian interior minister resigns

JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Alexander Tchikaidze quit as Georgia’s interior minister after a man who accused him of covering up the death of two people killed by police in 2006 was himself killed by a bomb. Mr Tchikaidze, an ex-police colonel, had been interior minister since 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)

Another ex-Georgia minister joins Kiev government

>>Ukraine’s government has taken on a very Georgian face>>

JAN. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A third former Georgian minister has signed up to work for the anti-Russian government in Ukraine. This time Gia Getsadze, who held various high ranking positions under former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, is to become Ukraine’s deputy justice minister, media reported.

Mr Getsadze follows Georgia’s former healthcare minister Alexander Kvitashvili and former deputy interior minister Eka Zguladze to Kiev.

And this is important. Georgia’s relations with Russia have much improved since Mr Saakashvili left office in 2013 but these ties are still fragile.

What Georgia wants to avoid is the relatively new government in Kiev appearing heavily populated by Georgians. If it does, relations between Georgia and Russia could be damaged once again.
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Georgia to sell Saakashvili-era tower

JAN. 15 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government plans to sell the tallest building in the port of Batumi — a slender 35-storey white tower with a golden ferris wheel in one side. The tower had been earmarked as part of a new university and was seen as prestige project for the previous government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Georgian Patriarch steps in Charlie Hebdo debate

JAN. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The head of Georgia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, stepped into the debate on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s right to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, images that Muslims find offensive. In a statement, he said that freedom of expression doesn’t grant the freedom to offend.
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Saakashvili whips up IS row

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian president Mikheil Saaksvhili accused the current Georgian government of turning a blind eye to the hundreds of Georgians who had crossed into Syria and were allegedly fighting for the extremist group IS. The comments by Mr Saakashvili, who is now based in New York, were widely broadcast in Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015

Georgian PM joins Paris rally

JAN. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Irakli Garbashvili flew to Paris to join other world leaders at a unity rally three days after attacks by Islamic extremists killed 17 people in the French capital. Mr Garbashvili was the only head of government from C.Asia and the S.Caucasus to attend.

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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015

Dunkin’ Donuts opens in Tbilisi

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgians are now able to buy Dunkin’ Donuts in Tbilisi. One of the United States’ biggest fast food franchises opened its first two stores in Tbilisi, giving the economy a major PR scoop.

Other than Russia, Georgia is the only country in the former Soviet Union that Dunkin’ Donuts has opened a franchise.

“Opening Dunkin’ Donuts in Georgia proves that there is an attractive business climate in this country and it is easy to do business here,” US ambassador Richard Norland said at the opening of the stores.

Georgia’s economy has rebounded strongly from 2008 when it collapsed after a brief war with Russia. Since then foreign investment and exports, mainly to Russia, have picked up pace.

The Wissol conglomerate, which has close connections with the Georgian business and political elite, brought Dunkin’ Donuts to Georgia. Last year it also brought Wendy’s, another US fast food chain to Georgia.

The vice-president of Dunkin’ Donuts in Europe, Carlos Vidal, said that Wissol had the experience to launch a brand successfully in Georgia.

“Wissol Group owns knowledge of establishment of retail business and management,” he said.

“Together with Wissol Group we have ambitious plans in Georgia because we know that the population of the country is ready to receive the unique experience of Dunkin’ Donuts and to become everyday customer of sandwiches, donuts, bakery and a variety coffee products.”

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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015

Markets: Inflation worries Central Asia and South Caucasus countries

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Currency woes in 2015 quickly translated into inflation across the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Kazakhstan can be singled out as the worst performer in this department as inflation grew by a staggering 13.6% in 2015.

It was only in November that the minister of economy Yerbolat Dossayev said inflation wouldn’t surpass 10% in 2015. He was clearly wrong.

Interestingly, food prices grew significantly in Kazakhstan (+10.9%), while in Kyrgyzstan it was precisely food items that kept inflation from going too high.

Kyrgyzstan’s 11-month inflation in 2015 was 6.8% overall, but food prices decreased by 4.8% (Jan. 5).

Geostat, the Georgian statistics service, said annual inflation amounted to 4.9% in December, a 0.6% deflation compared to the previous month driven by lower transport and fuel prices, another impact of low oil prices.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Oil shipments from Batumi, Georgia, drop

JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Crude oil and oil product shipments from the Georgian port of Batumi fell by around 22% in 2014 compared to 2013 because of lower than expected exports from Kazakhstan and re-routing through pipelines, a port official told Reuters. Batumi oil terminal is controlled by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas.

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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)