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Alia, June 12-18
Merab Shatirishvili, For New Reality: “I visited Guria quite recently and I would never think of seeing a Negro girl there… The country is moving towards disaster, isn’t it?”
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Georgian Public Broadcaster, Moambe, June 16; Netgazeti, June 16; Rustavi 2, Kurieri, June 16; Marshalpress, June 16; Asaval-Dasavali, June 26 – July 2
Zaza Papuashvili, Georgian Dream: “It is already impossible to look at them [the National Movement] acting like donkeys. We have an expression ‘this man should not be let into home.’ These people should not be either let into home or left in the country. They should be taken out and beaten with a carpet beater in order to beat their brains out of this dust and dirt.”
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Kavkasia, Barieri, June 29
Archil Chkoidze, Eurasian Choice: “Why does not anyone talk about the fact that already 40 000 Turks live in Batumi and Adjara, and tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or after five years we may turn into ethnic minority… The Turks have not left Constantinople; they are standing there; and Constantinople, which had been the birthplace of Christianity and Orthodoxy, today remains in the hands of the Muslims; the question is that we are threatened with Islamization and we are talking nonsense here.”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 25
Vazha Otarashvili, Alliance of Patriots: “If our compatriots, our Muslim brothers want to build a mosque, they can do it, but our historical enemy, Turkey, which still uses any forms of violence trying to impose its own ideology – the ideology, which has already turned into religion – on separate regions of Georgia, it is absolutely inadmissible.”
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Alia, June 5-11,
Sandro Bregadze, Erovnulebi (Georgian for “the nationally minded”): “We know for a long time already that the process of handing over Adjarian territory to the Turks is underway; we know how many Turks have so called businesses in Adjara; ultimately, our lands will be sold to them and Turkish settlements will emerge in Adjara.”
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Kavkasia, Spectri, June 21
Davit Akubardia, host: “Not long ago someone said on TV that Plekhanov [former name of Agmashenebeli Avenue] no longer belongs to the Georgians; all stores have been seized by the Turks. When I look now, Misha [ex-President Saakashvili] rehabilitated that place using budgetary funds and then it became the street of the Turks, to say more correctly, of the Turkish businessmen.”
Sakinformi, June 13
Givi Somkhishvili, author: “Having a dominant position over media outlets, agitation and propaganda means, they try, through shameful, demagogue chattering, to turn proud Georgians born as Algeti puppies into a flock of sheep, who will be driven away by the monster called “a strategic partner” [Turkey] to the butcher’s anytime. The God sent David Agmashenebeli to Georgians, when they were in danger, and he strengthened the country as much as possible. Today when they treat his memory so impudently and abusively, and even expelled him from Tbilisi [referring to his monument that was relocated from downtown Tbilisi to its suburb], they will not probably leave him even in Digomi [district in Tbilisi where King David’s monument was relocated to]. I will not be surprised if to appease the Turks, they will even erect a monument to Ilghazi [Turkish ruler] in Didgori.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 19-25
Nana Devdariani, Global Research Center: “Do not our liberasts, who are seeking foreign grants, watch TV, when they say that Russian propaganda has washed Georgia away? Georgia has been washed away by the Turks rather than by Russian propaganda. Those Turkish TV series aired on Georgian TV channels are nothing but Turkish propaganda.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 26 – July 2
Tamaz Cheishvili, publicist: “Okay, let’s imagine that a miracle happened and we joined NATO, what will we do with Turkey, which is a NATO member state and will have to deploy its troops in Georgia?”
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Interpressnews, June 15
Irma Inashvili, Alliance of Patriots: “Let’s say openly what is going on in the lands purchased by foreigners – you see the citizens and families, who arrived from Asian, Arabic countries and settled down in various cities of Georgia. They are buying lands and building villages there. These are Arabic, Indian, Iranian villages. We respect the citizens of all counties; I do not want to be accused of any phobia, but let us realize the threat that may be facing our country in the near future. It is someway related to the security as well; a threat of terrorism is high in Asian villages.”
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Rezonansi, June 1
Dimitri Khundadze, Georgian Dream: “Long-term lease will finally eliminate various rumors and black holes that may emerge following privatization. At the same time, number of investors with unserious and covert purposes will be reduced. As far as an organic law is concerned, its adoption should be accelerated, because while we will be making a decision on protecting Georgian lands, the amount of what we have to protect may be reduced significantly. This threat is increasing on a daily basis.”
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Imedi, Kronika, June 10
Eka Beselia, Georgian Dream: “Foreign citizens show high interest towards purchasing agricultural lands and since the current law provides for such a possibility, we decided that the shortest way, the most rapid decision, which may insure against such threats and prevent them, will be to suspend this norm.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 5-11
Sandro Bregadze, Erovnulebi: “The treacherous government has the following plan – as soon as the sale of Georgian lands to foreigners is actually legalized, it is planned to carry out mass resettlement of the Turks to Adjara and the Chinese to Guria. The Chinese will pay USD 500 million to purportedly develop tea industry in Guria and 12 thousand hectares of land will be handed over to them for this purpose… If this happens, quite soon the Georgians will turn into ethnic minority in Guria and the region will be governed by the Chinese, because the rate of their reproduction is thousand times higher than the rate of reproduction of Georgians.”
Asaval-Dasavali, June 12-18
Elizbar Javelidze, People’s Assembly: “It is inadmissible! When you invite the Chinese for a period of 50 years and give them so many Georgian lands, they are reproducing so quickly that after 50 years the region will be full of Chinese villages! If anyone tells me that Chinese investors will not bring Chinese workers and technical personnel from China?! The Chinese will reproduce so quickly that they will even demand a Chinese autonomy in Guria!”
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Georgia and the World, June 23
Iza Tamazashvili, author: “Building of Arabic, Indian and Chinese villages, destruction of the national mentality and outflow of young people from the country will continue for 25 years. Do you think that this country bestowed by God will again be called Georgia after 25 years?”
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Georgia and the World, June 23
Givi Somkhishvili, author: “Households being cared for by Georgians are getting filled with foreign tribes. They have turned the primary goal of our nation – return of Georgians to their own homes and restoration of the country’s territorial integrity – into a bedtime story told by Grandma.”
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Sakinformi, June 13
Givi Somkhishvili, author: “Those people, who sell Georgian lands and grant Georgian citizenship to those, who arrive with their families and settle down here forever, are nothing but betrayers of their homeland. Shah Abbas also tried to exile Georgians from Georgia and bring foreigners instead. This process triggered wars and terrible bloodshed. Georgians spared no efforts to fight against this evil and clean their own soil from invaders.”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 7
Badri Nachkebia, Center for Terrorism and Crisis Research: “If you walk along Plekhanov, David Agmashenebeli Avenue, you will see that a great part of the population in this district and some other districts are migrants from those countries, where the crisis is persisting, where terrorist organizations are growing more powerful, and I really do not know what they will do today, where and how, and whether our special services have any information about it.”
Georgia and the World, June 2
Ivane Buchukuri, a local resident of Telavi: “Today a Georgian is oppressed in his own homeland. However, the Turks, Arabs and other foreigners are very happy. They talk about 20% of lost lands, but do not mention the remaining 80%, which is being grabbed right under our nose.”
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Alia, June 12-18
Merab Shatirishvili, For New Reality: “They claim that land will not be sold and what of it? Foreigners are buying the storeys [of buildings] in various cities. You can arrive in Batumi and see – Arabs, Iranians and Chinese are buying one storey, then the other storey and nobody looks at it. Cannot anybody see what is happening here, in the center of Tbilisi? These foreigners are buying private property.”
Asaval-Dasavali, June 19-25
Koba Arabuli, poet: “I address Head of the State Security Service, Vakhtang Gomelauri: how the transfer of one Tatar [Afgan Mukhtarli] to his own land has turned into such a problem for us and a tragedy for the country?!”
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Discrimination on religious grounds
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 5-11
Basil Mkalavishvili, Orthodox priest: “I demanded that the Georgian Church quit the world ecumenical council of churches and we paid more attention to the sect of Jehovah witnesses, who were sent to carry out intelligence activities and from whom the Georgian Patriarchate was receiving lots of foodstuffs as a bribe!”
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Marshalpress, June 26
Inga Berikashvili: “Nobody will tell me that anyone is persecuted or prohibited to pray, but I will never welcome the construction of many mosques in our country, because the Orthodox parish is obstructed to pray on grabbed lands and they do not allow our churches to resume services. If the Orthodox people are prohibited to pray in churches, why should we allow them to build mosques here? My father is a Muslim, but Georgia is an Orthodox country and let everyone respect the country, where they were born, and do not stage provocations! An active work is underway in Batumi for a long time already to strengthen Muslim forces in order to then rule Adjara. But in my opinion, the only purpose of manipulating the issue of religion is to trigger a provocation; it does not represent the path towards religion and God. There are more than enough mosques and those, who really believe in God and want to pray, calmly follow God’s path.”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 3
Viewer: “I was always surprised, when politicians showed tolerance towards the sects; as for the clericals, the government used to support them or get satisfied only with making their motives public or promoting them, whereas the life of these sects is becoming more and more sensible… He [Zaza Shatirishvili] said that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are hampering what our ancestors had brought to the present. And who should put them on the right track or who should define the nature and scales of their activities? Who has time to condemn what should be condemned? It is the duty of each of us and why do not we speak out?”
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Georgia and the World, June 29
Levan Chachua, Georgian Idea: “They joined relevant European Convention and adopted anti-discrimination law. Just this anti-discrimination law envisages the legalization of same-sex marriage between civil partners. Therefore, even if they want it much, they will not be able to turn away from the directives of their western bosses.”
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Georgia and the World, June 1
Editorial Board: “We should be realists; the language of dialogue with Russia does not mean that we sell our statehood. We betray and sell our homeland only through supporting these pseudo-liberal values propagandized by thousands of non-governmental organizations. The collapse starts in the country with moral corruption.”
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Georgia and the World, June 16
Nika Korinteli, journalist: “Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, who was “elected by people”, is concerned not because the population with Orthodox traditions and oldest culture is forced to legalize homosexuality in the country, but he is concerned because President of the Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio is concerned.”
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Georgia and the World, June 16
Nika Korinteli, journalist: “The Venice Commission’s conclusion on constitutional amendments has again demonstrated that Georgia’s present government, as well as its predecessor, is the West’s puppet and it, like the so called democratic West, does not care about Georgian people’s opinions, after it wrote in the conclusion that the article defining the marriage should in no way provide an interpretation about prohibition of same-sex marriage.”
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Sakinformi, June 13
Givi Somkhishvili, author: “The world knows how the hatred towards Russia and the desire to grab its goods ended for Napoleon and Hitler. Now the European pampered liberasts have got infected with the same bacterium of false strength under the pretext of protecting sexual depravity and false democracy. Those having amnesia during the lessons of history are wickedly dancing at the borders with Russia, while the latter is straightening up, and as a defender of Orthodox sanctities, it does not allow European and American sexual depravity to stick its nose into Russia.”
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Georgia and the World, June 23
Davit Mkheidze, author: “The neoliberal world is fighting against Russia, because this Orthodox country is the only force erected as an insuperable obstacle on the path towards the depraved West – the West, which failed to convince “wild” Russia that gay parade, same-sex marriage and so on should be perceived as a norm like the rain in May and the snow in January. Let’s wish Russia a victory in this unequal struggle, because with this struggle it gives a helping hand to Georgia as well.”
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Georgia and the World, June 12
Giorgi Razmadze, cleric: “We are pursuing the path towards Europe (it is an officially declared policy) and what is happening in Europe should also be legalized here – same-sex marriage, granting gay couples the right to adopt a child… They may be saying today that nobody imposes anything on us, but actually this is a hypocrite policy. If they tell the public in advance what particular processes are ongoing and what they plan to legalize, will any intelligent person seek to join the European Union?”
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Rustavi 2, Kurieri, June 17
Archbishop Spyridon: “When they continue repeating – Europe, Europe; you should bring something good from Europe, instead of bringing depravity. You are doing it because you are forced to act so. They tell you that they will not give you even a Tetri and your own people will eat you if you do not establish this depravity in your country.”
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Georgia and the World, June 23
Davit Kvlividze, archpriest: “Who is funding these so called non-governmental organizations in Georgia, who spares no efforts to support them? Who forced the previous Parliament to adopt the antidiscrimination law and who is in charge of LGBT rallies? Nothing is hidden. Let me recollect Joe Biden’s statement, when he pledged to do his utmost to protect LGBT rights throughout the world; or the statements made by the U.S. Embassy to Georgia, after the population did not allow propaganda of Sodom in the country… Just these forces are the impetus of those processes; they do not ask the Georgian government, like me and you, anything.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 12-18
Aleko Tetrashvili, actor: “Modern children already think that performing a woman’s role by a man is acceptable from all points of view and accordingly, a non-traditional role for a man is being gradually introduced in the new generation. The initiatives voiced by the Ministry of Education aimed at introducing such subjects at schools, where the roles of men and women are distorted, serve the same purpose I am making sure that external forces are trying on a systemic level to replace our traditional morality by doubtful values!”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 5
Lazare Zakariadze, publicist: “How can the spouse of the head of member state of the most powerful military alliance be a man [the spouse of Luxembourg's Prime Minister]… We could understand if they were the representatives of show business, culture, but we talk about the military alliance and which one, the most powerful alliance…[referring to NATO]”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 25
Vazha Otarashvili, Alliance of Patriots: “And these pseudo-values and abomination are being introduced, politicians [does not identify their names] with the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are being promoted and these moments have destructive effects on the entire world.”
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Alia, June 12-18
Sandro Bregadze, Erovnulebi: “We should help the public broadcaster out of the slavery… We will not let Maglaperidze [director general of GPB] paint the public television into his favorite blue and rainbow colors.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 12-18
Irakli Tsereteli, National Independence Party: “LGBT activists should be beaten to death, while the Lesbian organization named “Puchu” [Vagina] – after viewing their website, I found out that along with ugly women, there are a lot of sexual women among them. So, all beautiful women, who are members of this organization, should be subject to raping on the ground and in vitro fertilization. As for the pederasts, their time is over. A real man has come to power in the United States and therefore we should beat pederasts to death!”
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Georgia and the World, June 7
Beso Barbakadze, journalist: “I cannot say what is good in two men, called a wife and a husband, hugging each other; I cannot say either, why they, in Luxembourg, do not care about the fact that the first person in the country is a gay; but the fact is that we are also being led in this direction; they want us to get accustomed to the idea that two men (or two women) hugging each other, even if one of them is the first person in the country, is a usual development. TV channels actively propagandize all these and people with unclear sexual orientation are invited to every second show, if not to all of them. For this to happen, a guest should have, excuse me for this term, some pederast manners.”
Georgia and the World, June 29
Davit Mkheidze, author: “It is impossible to hold a manifestation of pederasts and prevent teenagers from seeing flying LGBT banners and their shaking buttocks in the center of the city.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 19-25
Dito Chubinidze, journalist: “Absolutely all drug addicts were arrested and put on board a ship along with pederasts in the North German seas… absolutely all vessels with drug addicts, pederasts and lesbians on board were sunk. This is how the Führer cleaned Germany from the depraved people and drug addicts that enabled Hitler to create the strongest army from the Aryan race, which forced entire Europe to kneel down and which successfully struggled against the rest of the world during six years.”
Georgia and the World, June 23
Givi Somkhishvili, author: “As it appeared, speaking out against sexual depravity, pederasts’ arbitrary behavior and shameful parades, as well as fighting against those croaking to humiliate Orthodox religion had been Russian propaganda.”
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Georgia and the World, June 12
Giorgi Razmadze, a cleric: “Those, who say today that same-sex marriage is normal, that nothing is bad in it and that Sodom should officially be legalized, let them arrive in Israel, visit and view Sodom and Gomorrah, which is still on fire.”
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Rustavi 2, Kurieri, June 17
Archbishop Spyridon: “Gender is a sexless creature. They say that a human being is a gender, i.e. a sexless creature and when he/she grows up and becomes an adult, he/she will choose the sex. It is clearly a Satanist law.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 26 – July 2
Davit Kvlividze, archpriest: “People should be more active in unveiling sins, because silence and even not sacrificing oneself when a friend is oppressed or an active propaganda of homosexuality is underway, is equal to being an accomplice in the sin.”
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Obieqtivi, Night Studio, June 5
Lazare Zakariadze, publicist: “There is a spectrum [in LGBT community]; there are people there, who deliberately chose this [sexual] orientation themselves. This is the road of Sodom sin and they chose it consciously. Okay, they chose it, but it should not be dominating in the society as a preferential moral posture… ”
Asaval-Dasavali, June 26 – July 2
Mikheil Tsagareli, Astrologist: “Drug addiction, like homosexuality, is a karmic debt for the sins committed in previous life. They need help, not encouragement!”
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Asaval-Dasavali, June 19-25
Zviad Tomaradze, Georgian Demographic Society XXI: “Along with adoption of the law, homosexual and lesbian couples will become more courageous; they will exercise their rights to get inheritance, to visit each other in prison and adopt a child. So, I wonder, how can the slaves build the country?”
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Maestro, Tsetskhlis Khazi, June 1
Guram Palavandishvili, philologist: “I ask Batoni Rezo [Apkhazava] and Kalbatoni Lia, how many types of gender do exist? And second, if they want us to trust them, to entrust our children to them, I want to listen to their official opinions, whether they believe that homosexually is a disease and depravity is a norm; let them answer to it, and whether this ministry [of education] believes that homosexuality and LGBT community is a sexual deviation and depravity.”
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Marshalpress, June 19
Koka Kandiashvili, journalist: “Under Saakashvili’s rule, a journalist, whom neither I, nor you know, had GEL 40 000 per month; they were whores, who appear on TV, because they lie with someone; however, there were some other people, whose salary amounted to GEL 500.”
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Marshalpress, June 25
Givi Sikharulidze, actor: “It does not concern to all lawmakers, but there are a lot of ungifted lawmakers and now other ungifted [women] like you should join the Parliament. This country will be destructed.”
Source: Prime Show
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Maestro, Tsetskhlis Khazi, June 6
Zurab Bigvava, psychologist: “[Elene] Khoshtaria has the fewest chances [to win the elections]… I would apologize to the supporters of gender issues, who say that gender equality is necessary, but it is unlikely not only for our country, but throughout the world that a woman is appointed as the mayor of the city because it is traditionally related to the fact that a woman will have to make serious decisions, related to economic activities, fragile decisions.”
Asaval-Dasavali, June 19-25
Nana Devdariani, Global Research Center: “If a man does not act like a man in the family, this family will be destroyed.”
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See full collection of examples of discriminatory statements at the website: www.notophobia.ge
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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.
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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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