Calls for/encouraging violence
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| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 30, Rezo Amashukeli, writer: “The society will definitely be established and people will come out in the streets and break the noses of the Constitutional Court members and first of all, Girchi Union! Remember it! Georgian men have not gone extinct yet. Neither the West, nor the East will help you, the liberasts… If my grandson smokes marijuana tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will cut the throats of both Turava and Japaridze!” | |
| Alia, July 9-15, Tamo Keshelava, journalist: “[In the context of abolishing the Ministry of IDPs] the children of IDPs will not enjoy the same status as their parents; they will receive no aid and insurance. The country will no longer have IDPs. Only the Somalian refugees will blacken our hearts.” | |
|  | | | Rustavi 2, Archevani, July 31, Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement: “Now, we have received destitute Russian tourists. Who are arriving from Dubai or Abu Dhabi? These are not rich Arabs. Instead of bringing 100 000 Bangladeshis from Dubai, it is enough to bring five rich Arabs and they will spent the same amount of money and bother you much less. And why I am telling this – actually we have received the country, where Georgian people appeared unnecessary. I say it with a certain pain in my heart because my concept was to open Georgia for tourists, to promote our country, but I would have never imagined that there would be no place for Georgians in their own country and mass emigration of Georgians would be taking place.” | | |  | | | Kavkasia, Spektri, July 25, Gubaz Sanikidze, Democratic Movement – United Georgia: “Nobody will leave this paradise untouched. An entire army of Iranians and Turks has arrived to buy our lands. I am always in favor of having a very strict, regulated policy with respect to the Near East, because I know them; I am a specialist in this field. I know them very well, for a long time. There are certain conditions on which we both should agree. When so many people open the door and arrive in this country – Tbilisi has already turned into the Near East city, to say nothing about Batumi… Europe faces a problem – 80 million Germans face problems with one million migrants and who are we?! There are entire districts in London, where London police can do nothing.” | | | | |
| Asaval-Dasavali, July 30 – August 5, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “Since Georgia faces deficiency of foreign-language tour guides, tourists bring guides from their own countries, who significantly distort the facts about the history of our country. Especially Iranian guides create problems. Almost all of them tell Iranian tourists that Tbilisi was a Persian city and then it was captured by the Russians and this is how it appeared within the present Georgian territory. They demand the return of Tbilisi, as their own city, in various forms. Tourism experts link the fact to politics, saying that the government should react to the fact immediately.” Georgia and World, July 19, Beso Barbakadze, journalist: “When Shah Abbas was invading Georgia, he was expelling locals from villages and bringing Persians instead. Besides weakening the villages, he tried to extinguish the entire country. So, now we are trying to do what Shah Abbas failed to achieve: to expel rural population and cede these territories to the successors of Shah Abbas, and what is more, we even try to do it without any struggle.” | |
| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 16, Nino Ratishvili, host: “You can hardly walk in Tbilisi. You are in the minority! We are already in the minority! And we have to look at this reality straight in the eyes… Are they refugees from Iran? Are they refugees from Turkey? Mass construction of multi-storey buildings is underway in Tbilisi; Georgians do not have so much money to buy these apartments… so, mainly foreign nationals are purchasing them. Should it be so easy [to purchase apartments] in Georgia?” | |
Civil society organizations
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| Asaval-Dasavali, July 16-22, Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, Union of Human Rights Defenders: “Why do not our feminists equipped with grants get interested in the fact that Georgia has turned into a brothel of Iranians, Arabs and Turks? As far as I know, Iranians take photos and record videos of their sexual intercourse with Georgian women and then disseminate them on porn sites, saying ‘look at what we are doing with Gürcü Hatun! Is not it violence against women?!” Asaval-Dasavali, July 16-22, Beso Mikava, Iberian-Caucasian Movement: “Our Prosecutor’s Office, Justice Ministry, Police advocate the interests of foreign nationals instead of Georgians. Riot police of various countries act here without any obstacles and it oppresses the Georgian Orthodox Church. Lands soaked with the blood of our ancestors, natural wealth and mineral resources are sold to foreign nationals; the interests of our country are sold openly. And it, first of all, infringes the interests of our population left without a shelter.” | |
| Alia, July 2-8, Guram Kartvelishvili, writer: “Georgia is being grabbed by foreign nationals; the country is full of migrants and the Georgians fail to see this threat. Some migrants have raped an underage, others have defiled our churches… our lands and real estate are being sold intensively to foreigners… These foreigners are spending money and will continue doing it in order to protect their property and interests here. We will find it difficult to change the situation because they will come to the Parliament and to the Government and where they fail to come, they will have their own lobbyists, Georgian lobbyists, who will defend their interests and who will sell their own homeland for money. There are a lot of such people today and their number will further increase. When they oppress us very much, there will be no other option than to rebel against them. And then, they will declare Jihad and end our physical existence. We must not forget that the Muslims who arrived here are backed by their strong countries.” | | Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 23, Tamar Kiknadze, political analyst: “I do not know whether they are here legally or illegally, but when you walk in the street, it is felt very much that an ethnic, national picture of Georgia is changing day by day and not in favor of us. However, some people consider it a very positive development… Do you know what else is dangerous? These people arrive and create enclaves here. They do not assimilate and integrate into the Georgian society. They have opened their own stores, their own hotels. They are stewing in their own juice. So, this represents a danger. What happened to Europe, these enclaves …They will soon set up their own conditions.” | | | |
| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 31, Mamuka Areshidze, expert: “It is inadmissible to allow people [Iranians] in the country so thoughtlessly. I still think that visa regime should be resumed… You [the Georgian government] have very reasonable arguments: you do not struggle against Iran, but you struggle against lack of control, because crime rate with the involvement of Iranians has increased significantly. They do not attack Georgians, but attack each other, drugs, swindling. This mainly happens among these people… and they are main drug users.” | |
| Asaval-Dasavali, July 9-15, Dito Chubinidze, journalist: “It should be investigated whether ethnic Armenians were really given Georgian names at the Institute of History and Ethnography and who stood behind this dirty decision.” | |
| Alia, July 2-8, Guram Kartvelishvili, writer: “Today, Armenia plays a great role in anti-Georgian affairs. The question is that it tries to prove to Russia that Armenia rather than Georgia is the center of the Caucasus.” | |
| Obieqtivi, news program, July 3, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “The United People’s Movement of Muslim and Christian Brothers gathered today and signed a declaration, which openly accuses Turkey of pursuing expansion policy in Georgia. The declaration openly states that Turkish organizations are operating in our country and particularly in Adjara; they are deliberately pursuing the policy to convince Georgian people that they had lived better in the Ottoman Empire. Actually, propaganda of the Ottoman Empire is underway. In addition, Turkey has open ambitions for Batumi and Ozurgeti, as well as Akhaltsikhe and it is no secret… We urge the government to take particular steps to prevent Turkey’s harmful actions.” | |
| Obieqtivi, news program, July 13, Irma Inashvili, Alliance of Patriots: “It is important to pay attention to the tendency of opening Quran Centers in the Adjara region. This issue is also linked to the education system and generally education, where, reportedly, interested persons will be taught the principles of Islam, Quran that, in itself, is not bad; it is very good if there are interested persons; and there really are interested persons in Adjara that should be stated clearly; but we should also make it clear that at those Quran Centers and Turkish schools students have to study Quran under the Turkish propaganda.” | |
| Georgia and World, July 26, Beso Barbakadze, journalist: “Turkey has been trying to invade Georgia since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Besides the fact that the Turks have serious interests in the Adjara region and they have already bought and legalized a great part of lands there, they spare no efforts to achieve that Georgian citizens feel themselves like slaves in their own country. They act like patrons in our country. Why? Because we gave them this opportunity. If a Turk commits a crime in Georgia, we say that he is an investor and forgive everything. But if a Georgian commits a crime in Turkey, he is a slave and they treat him like a slave – they catch him and flog. It should also be noted that a lot of small or big vehicles are moving in Georgia with Turkish number plates; moreover, it is no exaggeration to say that Turkish drivers of trucks are exporters of death to Georgia. Their impudent driving has already caused a lot of fatal traffic accidents. It should also be noted that nobody has ever been punished for that – the Georgian side lets the offenders leave for Turkey where they are not held accountable.” | |
| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 23, Nino Ratishvili, host: “The current situation looks as follows: Batumi is already called Batumistan; huge territories of Adjara have been sold and that is done by Georgians and definitely with the support of the Georgian government, deliberately… Not a single piece of land had been sold under Aslan Abashidze’s rule… Adjara was Georgian, absolutely Georgian.” Rezonansi, July 24, Natia Lomidze, journalist: “Besides Tbilisi, problems do persist in Batumi, where “a Turkish district” has been created, where they mark their holidays. Locals are awakened by Mullah Prayers every morning. Experts say that this fact is alarming, because foreign nationals enjoy more rights in Georgia than necessary.” | |
Civil society organizations
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| Asaval-Dasavali, July 16-22, Tamaz Bakuradze, For Our Rights: “When should the society understand that the Turks are openly mocking and ridiculing us – no matter how much you protest, we will buy both the government and the people with money. They insult our traditions, culture, religion, and we come out and say that discriminative statements are made against the Turks.” | |
Discrimination on religious grounds
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| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 17, Mamuka Giorgadze, People’s Party: “For example, quite recently, the Constitutional Court actually made the Georgian Orthodox Church equal to the sects. And we actually expressed no protest against it.” | |
|  | | | Asaval-Dasavali, July 9-15, Dito Chubinidze, journalist: “Shortly and clearly speaking, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the lawsuit lodged by Baptists, Adventists, Catholics, Tariel Nakaidze’s Georgian Muslims Union, Evangelical Church “Word of Life,” Church of Christ, Evangelical Faith Church of Georgia and other sectarians, who are unanimous in their enmity against the Georgian Orthodox Church, and put the seal on it – this provision is discriminative and it should be abolished.” Asaval-Dasavali, July 9-15, Dito Chubinidze, journalist: “Today the Georgian church has not such patron, defender and supporter [like Giorgi Mtatsmindeli, Georgian monk]. That is why our Constitutional Court made our church equal to various sectarians and spiritual children of Najm ad-Din Ilghazi, who are now waiting for the appropriate time to trample Georgia down and are actively sharpening their yataghans!” | | |  | | | Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 9, Nino Ratishvili, journalist: “You know what? It is Georgia; Georgia is an Orthodox country; now tell me, should not Orthodoxy be dominant in Georgia? Personally I respect all religious, but tell me, will you love my mother more than your own? Will you love my child more than your own? If you tell me that you will, I will tell you that you are cheating… That is why I am saying that … then they are astonished at the reactions among Georgians. This is just what causes reactions among Georgians.” | | | | |
| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 10, Mamuka Areshidze, expert: “It is inadmissible to touch this church [Georgian Orthodox Church] and make it equal to others… If you still talk about equal rights, then you should first respect traditional religions, which had already existed in Georgia. There had been three traditional religions in Georgia – Orthodoxy, around which the Georgian state was built; Islam and Judaism. No other religions had ever existed in Georgia. I do not understand when some 40 people unite themselves somewhere.” | |
| Rustavi 2, Archevani, July 24, Medea Vasadze, former member of Adjara’s Supreme Council: “Then he [Tornike Rizhvadze] told us very categorically that a mosque would be built in Adjara with Georgian money. You know that it is a very sensitive issue. How can you talk in such a threatening tone; have you clarified who is in favor of and who is against building a mosque in the region, the city. We, the people in Batumi, are sometimes irritated at the fact that there are quarters, where you can hardly hear Georgian speech. And when you make such statement against this background and when it was a statement of a very irritated person, it was alarming. That he made a mistake was later confirmed by the fact that he had to make explanations about his statement… ” Kavkasia, Spektri, July 25, Gubaz Sanikidze, Democratic Movement – United Georgia: “[Tornike] Rizhvadze’s appointment is dangerous. The first what he said was that he would build a mosque. Who is this Rizhvadze? He explodes the country. This cheap support of the Muslim community… It is a geopolitical knot, the place of clash of civilizations and simultaneously coexistence. Everything, both positive and negative, and the first what he said was that he would build a mosque.” | |
| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 16, Nino Ratishvili, host: “I had no time to recheck and I feel very awkward… in Batumi, a Mullah like in Istanbul, from a mosque… It touched me so much… I remember, for example, when Aslan Abashidze called them in and asked: When we, the Orthodox Christians, are chanting, do we disturb you? They answered, No. He asked again: Do you hear anything? Then, neither should you disturb us.” | | Asaval-Dasavali, July 30 – August 5, Zaza Davitaia, journalist: “There are a lot of foreign nationals in Georgia, who follow Islam and walk in the streets of various cities or by the seaside wearing their religious clothes covering all of their faces except for eyes… You may see the intention in their eyes, but a shahid belt hiding inside a niqab or a burqa cannot be seen. Identification of an intention is not enough for preventing a tragedy.” | | | |
Civil society organizations
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| Netgazeti, July 5, Iberian Unity: “In Sweden, Muslim refugees have destroyed the statue of Jesus Christ. If we do not take more radical measures, the same may happen in our country. Foreign Muslims bring nothing good to any country and our government grants them citizenship on a daily basis. Do not allow Islamization of the country! Struggle for your own nation! Struggle for your and your children’s future! Your future is in your hands!” Marshalpress, July 19, Zviad Tomaradze, Georgian Demographic Society: “Your order has been fulfilled! I wrote the bill to ban wearing a chador, niqab and burqa in Georgia!”
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| Alia, July 2-8, Zaza Papuashvili, Georgian Dream: “No matter, which country you arrive in, you will feel national characteristics of this country and its population. It seems to me that by these alleged European values, unclear and depraved liberalism and libertarianism, we want to erase our history; we hate ourselves, as if we are ashamed of ourselves and try to resemble others.” | |
| Asaval-Dasavali, July 2-8, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “How can we be surprised at this Ilia State University, which showed itself off by exhibiting “Virgin Suicide” by a feminist painter, Lia Ukleba within its walls. It is a stinking nest of the Soros followers, who hate Georgians, where they deprave and degrade our youth!” Asaval-Dasavali, July 30 – August 5, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “Yes, the Greeks blame the Tsipras government for this apocalypses and hell! And it is no surprise, because upon the demand of the European Union, it was just Tsipras, who gave the green light to same sex marriage as well as Sodom and Gomorrah in the country, where Orthodoxy is declared as the state religion. The Greeks themselves recollected how homosexuals were running in sacrilegious clothes during the last year’s Athens Gay Pride.” Georgia and World, July 26, Jaba Zhvania, journalist: “The Public Defender was not assured of the necessity to constitutionally define the marriage as the union of a woman and a man that may further increase a negative attitude towards LGBTQ people… I think that the majority of the society needs no reminders that similar documents are prepared not in the brains of primitive liberasts nesting in the Public Defender’s Office, but in the brains of their western patrons.” | |
|  | | | Marshalpress, July 9, Akaki Zoidze, Georgian Dream: “People [same sex couples] should have the right to live with whom they want. It is their choice, but propagandizing it as a correct rule of life is absolutely inadmissible. Frequently I think that they impose it on us. On the other hand, discrimination and pressure on people only on this ground is inadmissible.”
Political Detector | | |  | | | Marshalpress, July 4, Irma Inashvili, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia: “In our time, there was a free topic in Georgian language and literature during entry exams… For example, “A person is happy, when his heart beats for homeland”… Today, entrants are offered a topic on homophobia. Our education system is far from both national values and reality. Has anyone thought about what homophobia, feminism, vandalism and idiotism have to do here? Do not we have more interesting ideas for free topics?
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| Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 24, Gocha Jojua, New Christian-Democrats: “Actually, aggression comes from the minority, does not it? The minority tells you that it is depriving you of the so called majority, or how is it? “White heterosexual, I hate you.” It is just … I do not want anything from him. | |
| Marshalpress, July 1, Giorgi Iakobashvili, member of Georgian Public Broadcaster’s Board of Trustees: “They are interested only in lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals!!! Just imagine, they are not interested in swingers and nudists, bikers and punks, philatelists and numismatists… and generally, these LGBT penises are interested only in four letters of the Georgian alphabet – L G B and T. I do not know the name of that substance – Jemal, Jumber or Gulo… It is his business, but impudence and rudeness, aggression caused by ignorance should not be tolerated. One bearded LGBT person mocked at me, saying that I was born under the Communist rule. Now, how should one talk with this asshole about homeland, friends, ancestors and future. ”
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| Asaval-Dasavali, July 2-8, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “Yes, I do not add anything, Georgian Public Broadcaster plans to legalize the propaganda of homosexuality! Simply speaking, Channel One funded with our money - GEL 55 million per year – should prepare and air the programs, where homosexuals and Sodomists will be openly propagandized!” Georgia and World, July 4, editorial board: “5000 pederasts have defiled Greece – two participants of the Thessaloniki Gay Pride were thrown into the sea. Thessaloniki citizens besieged two participants of the gay pride parade – Greek and Brazilian – and threw them into the sea, according to Russkie Afini. Four participants of the incident were arrested by police. The detainees explained that they “got angry at a colorful flag proudly erected by homosexuals. Police officers said that this couple had no signs of violence and that they felt well. The gay pride parade, which was organized by the Thessaloniki organization of LGBT community, was held for the seventh time. 5000 disoriented people participated in the march of pederasts this year.” | |
Civil society organizations
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|  | | | Georgia and World, July 19, Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center: “If you look at what recommendations this project contained [a school subject Me and Society], you may not believe – it contained some games for children aged 7-13 and one of its priorities was raising children’s awareness about non-traditional sexual orientation… For example, a child should have imagined that the Little Red Riding Hood is a boy in a girl’s clothes, who is different by sexual identity and it is absolutely normal. Children also had to participate in some games envisaged by curriculum and each of them had to personify this or that character: boys had to act as girls - to put on their clothes and so on. So, what is important, they tried to acquaint children with the so called third gender.” | | |  | | | Alia, July 2-8, Gia Korkotashvili, Georgian Mission: “They should unite the Ministries of Culture, Education and Internal Affairs! 1) The Interior Ministry will know Georgian history more deeply and will not arrest patriots for the sake of pederasts; 2) The Interior Ministry employees will be more polite (they already are if you are a member of the National Movement or a pederast, but world standards require more).” | | | | |
| Kviris Palitra, July 16-24, Givi Sikharulidze, actor: “It is only the beginning. You will see now, when a man marries a man and then adopts a child, brings him up and then you will see what generation we will have.” Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, July 26, Rezo Amashukeli, poet: “Let them leave this church alone, because you saw what happened in Greece. Sodom and Gomorrah happened there, because so many people supported same sex marriage and received God’s retaliation.” | |
| Alia, July 2-6, Soso Manjavidze, former independent member of the Sakrebulo: “Time has come when it is difficult to understand who needs more protection – effeminate men against masculine women or vice versa. Just such masculine women compose our famous NGO sector, which periodically holds seminars on gender theory for the government trembling in front of it.” | |
| Asaval-Dasavali, July 2-8, Davit Isakadze, archpriest: “Full equality in the relations between a wife and a husband can be achieved only through a wife’s obedience to her husband and this is how a couple achieves true love. A man is the head of the family and a wife obeys him. However, a man prevails over a woman not because he belongs to a stronger gender, but because of his greater share of responsibility before the family.” | |
Civil society organizations
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| Asaval-Dasavali, July 16-22, Nikoloz Mzhavandze, Union of Human Rights Defenders: “As a result of our feminists’ efforts, our little girls call police and let them arrest their husbands even after a slight quarrel with them.” | |
| Kviris Palitra, July 16-24, Givi Sikharulidze, actor: “How can a woman holding a five-meter long cigarette and married 900 times bring up a child? In modern Georgian family, a mother fails to perform her functions. The same can be said about fathers. Some men are not men at all, they oppress women; as a result, aggressive children are grown up in such families. Do you know how modern women think? Let everyone die if only my children are well – children grown up by such mothers will become murderers and oppressors. They handed over their children to babysitters.” | |
| See full collection of examples of discriminatory statements at the website: www.notophobia.ge | |
|  | | | Newsletter was developed by Media Development Foundation (MDF) within the frameworks of the Promoting Integration, Tolerance and Awareness Program in Georgia, supported by USAID and implemented by UNAG. | | |  | | | Opinions and ideas provided in this newsletter are those of the Media Development Foundation (MDF) and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the UN Association of Georgia. | | | | |
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