<div style="PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 10px; HEIGHT: 35px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><img alt="geotimes.ge" src="http://www.geotimes.ge/images/logo.gif" border="0"><br><strong>Ethnic Groups in Georgia #8 Azeris Part 2</strong><br>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px"><br><span class="TextVer11Brown">Community </span></div><br>
<div class="NewsHeaderVer12Black" style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px"><b>Ethnic Groups in Georgia #8 Azeris Part 2</b></div><br>
<div class="TextVer11Brown" style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px">
<meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2180" name="GENERATOR"><link href="htmleditor/css/EditorStyle.css" rel="stylesheet">
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Today we bring part 2 of the article on the Azeris, as part of the series of the wealth of ethnic groups in Georgia. Part 1 was presented in last week's edition of Georgian Times. The materials on the ethnic groups are provided by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and are extracted from the book, Georgia An Ethno-Political Handbook by Tom Trier & George Tarkhan-Mouravi, Tbilisi 2008. With support from the foreign ministries of Switzerland, Norway and Denmark, the book will be published by the end of this year in a Georgian and an English edition.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Azeris </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Population in Georgia: 284,761 (Census 2002). </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Total population: Ca. 30 million.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Location: Compactly settled in districts in Kvemo Kartli, 224,606 (45.14%) and Kakheti 40,036 (9.83%); also in Tbilisi (10,942), Rustavi (4,993) and minor settlements in Shida Kartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Kin state: Azerbaijan (7,205,500 Azeris). </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Other countries of settlement: Settlements in Iran (around 21 million), Turkey (6-800,000), Russian Federation (621,800), other CIS countries, Germany (250,000), USA (280,000) and several other countries. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> A Bit of History the Soviet Period and after Independence </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">During Soviet rule, policies of education of the masses were introduced and the widespread illiteracy among Azeris was gradually reduced. Especially after World War II, Russian became the lingua franca in the Soviet Union, while Azerbaijani continued to be taught as the first language in schools both in Azerbaijan and in Azeri inhabited minority regions in Georgia. Hence, Azeris along with many other minority groups in Georgia did not need to learn the Georgian titular language, and for the compactly settled Azeri enclaves there were few opportunities or reasons to do so, as interaction with Georgians was limited.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> As a rural population with a very limited segment of educated persons and almost no members within the intelligentsia, Azeris were not politically active and did not engage in politics other than in strictly local matters. However, with the upsurge of nationalism in Georgia ethnic tension between Georgians and Azeris in Kvemo Kartli region emerged. In June 1989, the climate became extremely tense and confrontations between ethnic Georgians and Azeris broke out, resulting in several incidents of street-fighting. Residents in Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and in other areas of compact Azeri population mobilized in protest. In some cases, violent confrontations took place, and the situation went particularly out of control in Bolnisi, where a number of Azeri houses were burned down.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The situation relatively stabilized in the following months as tension simultaneously increased in Ossetia and Abkhazia. However, hundreds of Azeris had been dismissed from their jobs in Bolnisi and Dmanisi and out of fear of repressions, several thousands of ethnic Azeris left Georgia. Most of them crossed into Azerbaijan, while a smaller portion went to Russia. In the town of Bolnisi, practically all members of the large Azeris community left, often after selling their houses for symbolic amounts. In the following years, the situation got better. Shevardnadze and the Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev had close ties from the Soviet times, and from 1993 state relations between Georgia and Azerbaijan improved, which in turn helped to build trust between Georgians and Azeris.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Since the relative stabilization of the political climate in Georgia in the mid 1990's there are still two main reasons causing significant out-migration of the Azeri population. First, the majority of the Azeris primarily those living in compact settlements - are linguistically, economically and politically poorly integrated. The majority of the Azeris, especially in Kvemo Kartli, have a poor command of the Georgian language, if at all. With the lack of knowledge of Georgian, Azeris have very limited or no access to the labour market, which prompts many able-bodied young and middle aged men to seek employment abroad, especially in neighbouring Azerbaijan, Russia or Turkey. Moreover, young Azeris have poor opportunities for acquiring higher education in Georgia due to their generally poor command of the state language. The emigration creates a brain drain in the Azeri communities, as typically the young and educated Azeris find employment and stay abroad after completing their education. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The poor knowledge of Georgian language is also a major impediment for political participation resulting in an information vacuum, the inability to pursue higher education and to pass qualification exams required for obtaining higher public positions (judges, doctors, school directors, etc). Yet another reason for the lack of involvement in political and public life of the state is the low level of political activism, absence of civic consciousness and lack of motivation because persons belonging to ethnic minorities without command of state language are unable to be employed in public positions. This finds its expression in a wide-spread perception among Azeris of being second-grade citizens. The social apathy and almost complete lack of participation in political and public life exhibits itself during elections in unanimous support for the ruling party and the president regardless of who is in power. Such support is considered by most Azeris as a demonstration of their loyalty to the Georgian state. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><strong>Language, Education and Religion</strong> </font></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The Azeri language (also known as Azerbaijani or Azeri Turkic) is the state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The language belongs to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family, and is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Turkish, although significantly influenced by Arabic, Persian and Russian. As a spoken language, Azeri became the dominant tongue during the 15-16th centuries, and written Azeri Turkic began to develop from the early 1880's, while a unified written standard was only introduced in 1930. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The majority of Azeri children today attend Azeri-language schools, although in recent years some parents as a new trend prefer to enrol their children at Russian language school in preparation for studies abroad. Lately, a growing number of parents have also chosen to send their children to Georgian-language schools. However, the absolute majority of Azeri children still study at Azeri language schools resulting in a poor command of Georgian, especially in rural areas. With the decline of the role and importance of the Russian language, many children are becoming mono-lingual. At the same time, a significant number of Azeri children do not receive full secondary education. With a generally low level of education of the Azeri communities, learning is not a priority, and many parents take their children, particularly girls, out of school after 5-6th grade to help with the small-scale farming or petty-trade that are the primary occupations of the rural Azeri population. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Georgia's Azeris are characterised by being divided between Shia and Sunni followers, and the Azeris in general are split almost evenly among Shias and Sunnis, with the numbers of followers of Shia slightly prevailing. While the 2002 census indicates that 9.9% of Georgia's population was Muslim a figure that also includes Muslim Georgian, and other smaller Muslim groups such as Avars and Kists, the census does not provide a breakdown of Shia and Sunni denominations. Influences from Turkey and the North Caucasus, where Sunni Islam is dominant, have contributed to the strength of the latter faith among Muslims in Georgia. The Azeris in Kakheti close to the Caucasus Mountain ridge are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims, while in Kvemo Kartli, there is a mixture of Sunni and Shia communities. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Until World War II both a Shia and a Sunni mosque functioned in Tbilisi. Relations up to this point were still somewhat strained between the two communities, and the two groups had their own cemeteries and avoided observable contact with one another. In 1951, the Soviet authorities destroyed the 16th century Shia temple known as the Blue Mosque. The Shia community was referred to pray along with the Sunnis, who on their side were forced to share their mosque, the Juma Mosque, with the Shia. From 1951 to 1996, a black curtain divided the mosque during prayers, so that Shia and Sunni Muslims could pray separately. In 1996, the Imam had the curtain removed and since then the two congregations have prayed together. Today, the Imam is a Sunni Muslim, while the Mullah is a Shia Muslim and relations between members of the two denominations are cordial. </font></p>
<p><strong><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Economy </font></strong></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The Azeri population residing in the rural areas (mostly in Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti) is mainly occupied with small-scale agriculture, horticulture and cattle-breeding. Azeris in Kvemo Kartli are mainly engaged in potatoes growing, while fruits and vegetables are also grown as well as grain (mainly maize and wheat), especially in Marneuli and Gardabani districts. In Shida Kartli, Azeris mostly make their living from growing fruits and vegetables. Cattle-breeding is more common in the mountainous parts of the region, where hayfields and pastures constitute a large part of the lands. Because of the fertile soil and the availability of land in this lowland region of Georgia, the conditions for agriculture and animal husbandry are good, and certainly much better than many other regions of the country. In the Soviet period, Kvemo Kartli was the breadbasket of Georgia, and even in post-Soviet times, based largely on small scale farming, the production has been significant. In 2002, 41.8% of total potato production and 25.4% of all the vegetables grown in Georgia were produced in Kvemo Kartli, and 11% of the livestock of the country were concentrated in the region.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> In addition, since the early 1990's many Azeris have engaged in petty-trade in agricultural products with Azerbaijan as a means to supplement the meager incomes they can generate from rural production. In Kvemo Kartli, the proximity and easy access to the capital makes agriculture profitable and the big wholesale market in Lilo is the main hub for the sale of the products. There are also busses connecting different towns in Kvemo Kartli to Azerbaijani urban centres several times daily.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Copyright Tom Trier and George Tarkhan-Mouravi. </font></p>
<meta content="ILJSPTMTIA" name="SKYPE_FRAMEID">
<meta content="ILJSPTMTIA" name="SKYPE_FRAMEID"></div><br>
<div class="TextVer11Brown" style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px"><b>ECMI</b></div>
<div class="TextVer11Brown" style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px">2008.04.01 13:08</div>
<div class="TextVer11Brown" style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px"> </div><a href="http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=10058">http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=10058</a><br>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0">
<tbody></tbody></table></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of<br>
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a <br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************