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30.04.2009

TURKISH-ISLAMIC FACTOR IN GEORGIA

   

Araks Pashayan

Araks Pashayan (original)Georgia is a country with complex ethnic and religious mosaic. This country is inhabited both by Christian and Muslim minorities. The number of Muslims is about half a million. Among them Sunni Georgians, who reside in Adzharia1, which is contiguous with Turkey, and Shiah Azerbaijanis, which have community in Qvemo-Qartli (Azerbaijani variant Borchalu) province, which includes Marneul, Gardaban, Bolnis and Dmanis regions2 contiguous with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

There are Muslims in other Georgian provinces too (including Tbilisi). The Krists (12.000), who belong to Vaynakh ethnic group and reside in Pankisi Gorge also practice Islam. They accept Sufism.

The processes connected with Islamic ethno-religious minorities in Georgia, which are often considerably exposed by external actors, go public from time to time, mainly outlining the significance of Turkish-Islamic factor.

Azerbaijani issue in Georgia

In the belief of Azerbaijani figures of Georgia, the authorities carry out discriminating policy in point of Azerbaijani minorities. Some definite discourse is formed among the Azerbaijanis of Georgia, and, as a result, the main problems of Azerbaijani community, which have mainly social and economic and cultural trend. Three main and urgent problems which are connected with the privatization3 of the land, national education4 and language are distinguished. There are also other problems, which are connected with the necessity of including Azerbaijanis in state structures, inadmissibility of Georgification of Azerbaijani place name, the development of the infrastructure in the regions inhabited by Azerbaijanis, the reduction of the unemployment and other realities. According to the Azerbaijani representatives, unlike Armenians of Javakhq, who demand autonomy, their demands are not of political character. But, from the point of view of Tbilisi, they have mostly political subtext.

Factor of Azerbaijan

The official Baku outwardly does not share the concern of the Azerbaijanis of Georgia that the authorities carry out discriminating policy in their point, and tries to explain the problems by the social and economic problems of Georgia and by the fact that the Azerbaijanis do not speak Georgian. Baku demonstrates that it does not interfere into the domestic problems of Azerbaijanis of Georgia and, tending to preserve the strategic partnership with Tbilisi, tries to restrain the action of Azerbaijani community. The arrest of the chairman of the National Assembly of Azerbaijanis of Georgia Dashgin Gulmamedov, who demanded from Georgian authorities to stop the discrimination of Azerbaijanis and to make Azerbaijani a state language, by the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan may serve as the evidence of the aforementioned.

In spite of the outwardly low profile of Baku in the regard of the Azerbaijanis’ problems, in reality the whole picture is a bit different. Azerbaijani activists of Georgia find the fertile ground for their activity in Azerbaijan. In that very Azerbaijan the congresses of Azerbaijani and Islam communities of Georgia are arranged. It is not a mere chance that in August 2006 the international council of Azerbaijanis of Georgia was created in Baku with its headquarters in the capital of Azerbaijan. By the way, Fazil Aliev, the ethnic Azerbaijani, who lives in Tbilisi and later in 2007 took part in the presidential elections in Georgia, was elected as a chairman of that structure, and D. Gulmamedov was elected into the general committee.

There are many interviews and press-conferences of the Azerbaijani representatives of Georgia given to the Azerbaijani mass media. In the end of December 2008 in his interview to Azerbaijani “Trend News” informational agency the leader of Azerbaijani national movement “Heirat” Alibas Askerov, summing up 2008, stated that Georgian authorities had not made any steps in the direction of solution of Azerbaijani problems, they did not keep their promises, there was no state structure founded, which would have dealt with the problems of national minorities.

In January 2009 the informational agency “News-Azerbaijan” spread the opinion of the head of Azerbaijani congress of Georgia Ali Babaev, that in spite of the fact, that during the war in August Azerbaijanis supported Georgians, rendered material aid to the refugees, for Tbilisi they are second-rate people, who become important only in the period of elections.

In the end of March the vice-chairman of Azerbaijanis’ world congress and parliamentary Sabir Rustamkhanli told “Trend News” that there is a secret programme in Georgia for dispossession of Azerbaijanis, and, as a result, Azerbaijani schools are forcibly Georgified, the rights of the Azerbaijanis are violated, the conditions are created for the Azerbaijanis to leave the country.

Factor of Turkey

The maintenance and the activation of Turkish-Islamic factor in Georgia first of all interests Turkey, which, in coordination with the White House, is involved in a number of spheres of strategic importance for Georgia. Turkey, which considers Caucasus as its traditional area of influence, started to make steps in the direction of Islamization of Georgia back in 1990th, when many Turkish preachers spread some activity.

It is remarkable that on June 20, 2006 the Georgian Islamic Democratic Party was set up in Turkish city of Erzurum. A number of representatives of Islamic minorities of Georgia (Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Chechens, Ingushs, Meskhetian Turks and Adzharians) endorsed the declaration. Regardless of the party’s future, it is obvious that Turkey aspires to promote the consolidation of Muslims of Georgia.

It is not a mere chance that when Georgia was entering the Council of Europe it was at Turkish initiative that Georgia was obliged to organize the return of Meskhetian Turks.

After the Georgian-Russian war in August the information appeared in Turkish and Azerbaijani mass media that Baku and Ankara are going to bring pressure on Georgia, demanding to grant true autonomy to Adzharia, to grant autonomy to Kvemo-Kartli, to arrange the repatriation of Meskhetian Turks. Particularly, according to the Azerbaijani mass media, Azerbaijan is going to grant citizenship to the Azerbaijanis of Kvemo-Kartli. Both Turkish, Azerbaijani media and Azerbaijani representatives of Georgia from time to time say that the only guarantee for preserving the territorial integrity of Georgia is its transformation into federative state.

Conclusions

The activation of Turkish-Islamic factor in Georgia supposes not only the activation of ethno-political demands (and in the long term the activation of separatist demands) in separate Islamic regions but also the demographic growth in favour of Turkish or Islamic element, which will get even stronger in case of re-populating of Meskhetian Turks in Samtskhe-Javakhq. At the same time, the representation of Turkish element in Kvemo-Kartli and Javakhq will annihilate the barrier between Turkey and Azerbaijan. This issue is directly connected with the national interests of Armenia, because in case of such developments Armenia will be surrounded by Turkish elements.

Both Ankara and Baku can use that Turkish-Islamic factor as an argument against Tbilisi at any moment. It is not excluded that in case of activation of Turkish-Islamic factor in Georgia Baku and Ankara will act together. Finally, such vital communications for Turkey and Azerbaijan, as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa oil pipelines and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, go through the territory of Adzharia and Kvemo-Kartli

It is characteristic that Georgian analytical community in Georgia practically does not touch upon the significance of Turkish-Islamic factor. The importance of collaboration with the Armenian element in Georgia is not pointed out either, and this, in our conviction, could have been profitable for Georgia (and Armenia) in the context of the resistance to the Turkish expansion in the region.

1At present about 30% of population in Adzharia are Muslims

2In 1989 about 307.6 thousand Azerbaijanis lived in Georgia. In 2002, according to the results of the latest census of the population, the number of Azerbaijanis reduced to 284.8 thousand. In accordance with the Azerbaijani information there is about half a million of Azerbaijanis in Georgia.

3The problem of land came forward during the agrarian reforms, carried out during the presidency of E. Shevardnadze, when most of the Azerbaijanis, who were mainly occupied with agriculture and the sell of the agricultural goods, were left out of the process of the land privatization and today they have to work on the rented lands, which belong to the Georgians. One of the main reasons of the problem is that the authorities regard the frontier regions strategic and refuse to privatize the lands belonging to Azerbaijanis.

4Under the Law about the education from 2005 all the schools in Georgia must pass to the Georgian teaching system, preserving the study of the national minority language. This will be implemented from the September 2009.


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