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Obieqtivi, news program, October 13, Kakha Kukava, presidential candidate: “We see Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Arabs and Turks almost everywhere in Tbilisi and not a single candidate says anything about it except for us and some even perceive it as xenophobia; they even removed our campaign ads. One of my first steps that I will take in case of receiving support from people will be banning the issuance of residence permits in Georgia. We welcome investors, we welcome students and tourists, but like in all countries, a tourist visa should be short-term, one-month, two-month rather than five-year.”
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Georgian Public Broadcaster, presidential elections 2018, October 9, Kakhaber Chichinadze, presidential candidate: “Arab locals are not arriving in Georgia to stay here. These people are mainly from Iran, those countries, where the situation is more closed… I would also say that mostly those people are arriving – you all know what punishments are imposed in Iran on various crimes, rape, drug-related crimes and there is a threat that this criminal wave will move towards our democratic and liberal country.”
Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 22, Asmat Tkabladze, Labor Party: “Our people called them infidels, because they did not have the same religious beliefs as ours… I do not want it; I do not want to have more foreign nationals in our country than Georgians. They have already arrived in our country in large numbers. Other nation is already reproducing and when their nine children reproduce and arrive in our country with eight wives and 90 children, there will be no Georgians left here. So, I do not want it. Let them stay in their own country and be happy there.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, October 15-21, Elizbar Javelidze, People’s Assembly: “This moron [Grigol] Vashadze comes out and says that children should be taught Chinese and Arabic at a school age! These people failed to learn anything and to forget anything! This sect, as [Mikheil] Saakashvili claimed during his presidency, wanted to turn Georgia into Singapore. They want Georgia to belong to Arabs and Chinese instead of Georgians. They want to turn Georgia into a big brothel, where Georgian girls and boys will work as prostitutes and lovers of aliens. You will never achieve it!”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 22, Nino Ratishvili, host: “I entered one of the supermarkets belonging to the Ioli network and about 20 people were standing in the queue, and you will not believe, there were only 3-4 Georgians among them and others were foreigners… If something happens, deliberately, as a provocation, they will annihilate us, because I am already in the minority in my residential building and it does not happen at Marjanishvili Street; it happens at Vazha-Pshavela Avenue.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, October 15-21, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “Yes, the first class pupil’s book “Mother Language” contains an inscription in five languages (Georgian, Arabic, Turkish, Armenian and Chinese) on page 19 – “Earth is Our Home.” One may tolerate if these were Georgian-Russian-French-English-German inscriptions. But no, they were exactly Turkish-Arabic-Chinese – the languages of those people, whom they intend to bring to and settle down in Georgia!”
Alia, October 8-14, Tamo Keshelava, journalist: “Hey you, non-governmental anti-xenophobes, when we arrive in their countries, they stop us in the streets demanding to hide our crosses and should not we examine whether there is a woman or a man under the chador? Hey you, anti-xenophobes, have you ever thought why are they demanding additional mosques in some cities? Why? Will we, the Christians, die out and will only Muslim Georgians reproduce? No, darling, they will be built by those people, whom you call tourists. No, all those Iranians and Arabs are not arriving in my country because they love me. If this is so, they would love me when I arrive in their countries. But, when I arrive there, I should act as a guest; I have no right to start any business there, to say nothing about stay or citizenship. I should be careful not to be expelled earlier than necessary. They do not give me bread; quite on the contrary, I give them bread – they grab my land to harvest bread and you are assisting them in it – that is why they are feeding you; that is why your tail is burning.”
Georgia and World, October 25, Beso Barbakadze, journalist: “Over 50 foreign citizens were arrested during a month, trying to bring drugs into Georgia. Foreign nationals decided to amass wealth at the expense of Georgians’ lives. They realized that nobody will punish them for it in Georgia. So, a caravan started moving from Tashkent and this caravan is bringing death to our youth. The government would better change the name of the temporarily suspended bill in the Parliament and call it Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” https://bit.ly/2CBbgxT
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Civil society organizations
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Kavkasia, Barieri, October 11, Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center: “We have no preventive mechanism with Asian countries; therefore, criminals from North Iran, as well as drug-related crimes have washed us away.”
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Kavkasia, Barieri, October 11, Zviad Tomaradze, Georgian Demographic Society XXI: “Ethnic-religious balance is being violated. Quite soon, if this continues, we, the Georgians, will appear in the ethnic minority, because the flows of migrants are entering Georgia on a daily basis, mainly from the Asian countries, and we see it well.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, October 15-21, Irakli Shikhiashvili, public movement “Georgia Your Project”: “The entire Caucasus region is currently facing a threat of Iranization, because due to water deficit in these countries, a large-scale population migration will start soon; millions of Iranians will rush to the Caucasus that will threaten Georgian statehood with destruction.”
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Georgia and World, October 18, Konstantine Giorgadze, archpriest: “Our language, homeland and religion have saved us. Today nothing has been left from these three pillars. Aliens have destroyed our lands and religion and we ourselves are fighting against our language.”
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Alia, October 22-28, Mikheil Zakariashvili, composer: “We should compel the Tbilisi Municipality to remove these tents and to eradicate Iran on Plekhanov [Avenue]. Their rampage in our streets is already intolerable… I call on TV channels to get involved and cover what is happening in this district. Should everything - Georgian nationality, dignity and the city be sold for money?”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 8, Kakha Kukava, Free Georgia: “It will also concern Turkey’s - I do not know fortunately or unfortunately - open financial aggression, but it may acquire another nature, it is a very difficult issue… We are not talking about restricting someone on religious grounds. Proselytism should be banned for Christian church and other religious minorities as well. First of all, proselytism should be banned for those funded from Turkey… We all know very well, why people from mountainous Adjara are moving to Turkey for educational purposes. Not because they are offered good education, free food, accommodation, transport and stipends for their families.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 11, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “The struggle is underway in Adjara not only against religion - and it does not concern only Orthodoxy but it also concerns Islam - but the struggle is underway against Georgian thinking, against our traditions and generally against the Georgians. I have said for many times that Turkey is one of the most serious enemies of Georgia and it continues to think about grabbing not only Adjara, but other countries as well.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 11, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia: “In every country, where Turkey has its interests, in every country, I emphasize, be it Bulgaria, be it Adjara, Syria or Azerbaijan, in every country Turkey tries to build a large, intelligence-educational center and it tries to ensure that these institutions are built under religious cover. It tries to build the Aziziye Mosque in every country. Why the Aziziye Mosque? Because they believe that it was the only Sultan with less blood on his hands. But, actually it was not so. He was quite a bloody Sultan.”
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Georgian Public Broadcaster, presidential elections 2018, October 18, Besarion Tediashvili, presidential candidate: “Yes, I am saying that we have Turkish expansion in Adjara and throughout the entire country. I am talking about geopolitical expansion and economic expansion… I was the first to have started talking about uncontrolled migration, Turkish expansion, the army… ”
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Civil society organizations
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 11, Tengiz Tavdgiridze, Adjara Organization of All-Georgian Nobility Council: “When a foreign country is involved in these processes, when it takes thousands of children, giving them religious-theological education – we do not know what they are teaching them – when a foreign country opens its spiritual institutions here and when the first person is a Georgian national and the second person is a Turk, who actually manages the situation, it is very bad and points at many problems. I do not see any danger in learning languages, but when they open madrasas, especially in mountainous villages, it is dangerous for our country, especially as the Ministry of Education of Georgia fails to control these madrasas, they know nothing about what kind of learning process is underway there. Some televisions tried to enter those institutions, but they were not allowed. It is a very painful issue.”
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Alia, October 15-21, Zurab Jorbenadze, lawyer: “People have been so much poisoned with everything Turkish that the clergy is already afraid of their reaction… Georgian army should be created; tens of thousands of people should gather and save Adjara from being lost. We should show them our force.”
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Discrimination on religious grounds
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Georgia and World, October 18, Levan Chachua, Georgian Idea: “Now, who is Philaret? In order not to be accused of saying a lie, I will remind you of one of the most famous facts: everybody saw and you also probably saw on the Internet, when an Armenian Monophysite puts his hand on his head, reading a prayer and asking God for granting healing virtue. A Greek Catholic priest is standing nearby and acting in the same way. So, a Catholic and a Monophysite are asking God to grant Philaret healing virtue and in the end, Philaret says: no matter whether he is Armenian, Catholic or other, God has a single nature and there is no different between us… Naturally, the question arises and no answer is needed here: can the man who equals Monophysitism, Catholicism, Protestantism and other heresies to Orthodoxy be awarded the title of an Orthodox Patriarch? Generally, can he be called a Christian?”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 18, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia: “Catholic Church, Baptist Church and something absolutely new, the Seventh-day Adventists have been united – okay, this is more or less known, but there is the Holy Trinity Church there, some absolutely unknown churches; the Union of Georgian Muslims led by [Tariel] Nakaidze also joined them that is a big surprise. It is another issue, because this is the Union of Muslims, which is fighting against the Supreme Administration of Muslims. But what I want to say – Catholics, Muslims, it is a very small union and it does not matter, various peoples have united and are now challenging the Georgian Orthodox Church. About 30 000 people are challenging 3 000 000 people, saying that they want to have the same privileges as enjoyed by the Orthodox Church.”
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Georgia and World, October 25, Davit Mkheidze, author: “Why does the Great Schism of 2018 entail much graver consequences than that of 1000 years old? Because the both trends in Christianity of the Middle Ages, despite small dogmatic differences, were defending morality, public morals with the same enthusiasm. The same cannot be said about modern “reformed Catholicism, including its protestant divisions, whose padres have been long talking about tolerance to Sodom sins and in some “churches”, not only some padres with normal sexual orientation, but also pederast and lesbian priests and nuns are offering Christian service to same-sex couples.”
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Georgia and World, October 3, Metropolitan Seraphim (Stergioulas) of Kythira: “Instead of joint prayers, which are offered by the Ecumenical Patriarch with the Bishop of Rome and leaders of other churches, which are absolutely useful and rather jeopardize the perfection of Orthodoxy, would not it be better to preach repentance and returning everything to the origins of Orthodox religion, Jesus Christ's teachings, apostolic teachings, church fathers’ teachings?”
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Civil society organizations
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Asaval-Dasavali, October 1-7, Marina Kuntelia, Movement “Erovnulebi:” “A year ago, non-locals bought a house in Abasha, at the intersection of Tavisupleba and Darsalia streets. They carried out renovation works and erected an iron fence around it. And what happened then? One day they placed a sign on the house reading “Royal Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” And then we started thinking about what to do to curb this blasphemy. One day we gathered and an idea struck me suddenly: let’s erect a cross in front of them! As soon as the national government comes to power and the anti-discrimination law is abolished, I will get in a bulldozer and level this nest of sectarians to the ground!”
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Alia, October 22-28, Jondi Bagaturia, Georgian Troupe: “The government dreaming about its own wealth and prosperity chose another road… the road of drug trafficking and stupidification of future generations, the road of propagandizing homosexuality and depraved rule of life.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, October 15-21, Giorgi Gigauri, journalist: “This two-legged individual [Giorgi Avaliani] in a pink Chokha at Frankfurt Book Fair has turned out to be nothing but Georgia’s main symbol and talisman!,, In Minister Batiashvili’s opinion, a homosexual in a pink Chokha is the main value of Georgia and ancient Georgian civilization! So, Minister Batiashvili believes that this queer in a pink Chokha is “the face” of our 1000-old history!... It is regretful and strange that not a single Georgian writer expressed protest against naming this pederast in a pink Chokha as the symbol of Georgia at the world-level Book Fair in Frankfurt. It appears that just this creature is the face of modern Georgian literature.”
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Georgia and World, October 25, Irakli Spanderashvili, author: “Is not it high time to wake up? What do we leave to our children? Drug seeds, pederasts’ armbands and flags or vine and flags soaked with our blood and sweat?!”
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Alia, October 22-28, Levan Javakhishvili, journalist: “The government is promoting the propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation and pederasty in our country.”
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Civil society organizations
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Kavkasia, Barieri, October 18, Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center: “Those places with night clubs, electronic music, prohibited sexual intercourse in the underground are full of drugs and marijuana … I mean the underground, which also involves advertisement… Yes, I mean homosexuality and I mean what is depraved, okay, we can replace prohibited by depraved.”
Alia, October 15-21, Davit Nemsadze, Group of Civilian Control of the Military: “This is how we are shining with anti-national metamorphosis – Salome as the President and a 14-year-old child is brought to justice for protecting national dignity and slapping a pederast. God will punish us with Sodom and Gomorrah, if those 300 Aragvelis do not awaken in us.”
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Alia, October 8-14, Sandro Bregadze, Georgian March: “Entire Europe has entered upon the path of national ideology. It is only our country, where the Soros system, homosexuality and other depraved behaviors, which have been rejected by Europe, are flourishing.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 4, Rezo Amashukeli, poet: “Bearded women rather than bearded men get on my nerves. I would apologize to the viewers and also to you, but I cannot but say that ten pederasts are sitting at all channels; not a single channel is thinking in favor of Georgia.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, October 7, Jondi Bagaturia: “Because of insulting religious feelings, so if your God and religion are insulted, and if you slap them, it is considered an aggravating circumstance. This is a fascist legislation developed by the Soros herd. So, they say that if a person insulted your God, he was expressing his opinion and since you did not let him express his opinion, your crime will be aggravated. So, freedom of expression, according to them, means insulting your God, Patriarch and religion.”
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Georgia and World, October 11, Givi Somkhishvili, author: “The rats preaching Euro-Atlantic depravity, anti-national barkers called the non-governmental organizations, a handful of immoral prattlers called the parties are perceived as people. What else should I think when they say from the Parliament that Georgia’s European path is the choice of Georgian people. How can they prove that Georgian people are dreaming about NATO and the European Union; how can one imagine a sober-minded person moving into the throat of misfortune intentionally. All the liars, egoistic misanthropes sitting on the country’s vital arteria can easily mask what is anti-people as being pro-people. They are dragging the country towards misfortune on behalf of the same people.”
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Sakinform, October 30, Arno Khidirbegishvili, chief editor: “Ivanishvili’s PR technologists did not take into account that it is not needed to deeply analyze the topic “Return to the European family, where there is no violence, lie and lack of culture” in order not to come across such real European values, as inquisition, same-sex marriage, LGBT Sabbath or juvenile justice! Georgian people are not ready to accept them unequivocally that is confirmed by a USD 500 000 grant allocated by the U.S. Department of State to the Georgian Foreign Ministry about two weeks ago for propagandizing pro-Western goods.”
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Alia, October 15-21, Soso Manjavidze, independent member of the Tbilisi Sakrebulo: “NGOs have taken a profitable position. They, who have been appointed by foreigners as watchdogs of their own country, are closely watching over the government, criticizing them strongly upon receiving relevant instructions… This position enables them to easily impose on the frightened government a liberal agenda – drug policy liberalization, LGBT topics, foreign priorities, etc. … They are tirelessly serving marginal liberalism on a daily basis, introducing everything whatever they can, including juvenile justice, gender theory, fighting traditional religions, supporting sects and trying to violate ethnic-religious balance with migration… Combatting corruption is essential, but it is not the business and prerogative of those foreign-funded liberal-fascist NGOs.”
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Rustavi 2, Kurieri, October 28, Giorgi Gabunia, host: “You will probably agree with me that all these started during the previous elections and watching Rustavi 2 TV all day long … I noticed that those women with strange shapes, some sort of women stuffed into the cars, who are writing something endlessly have turned into the symbol of presidential elections.”
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Iberia, Tavisupali Sivrtse, October 9, Gigi Sikharulidze, actor: “I am tired of looking at so many ugly people. Now, look at our women in the Parliament. I do not want to look at them, so many ugly faces together. When these women are telling us that families should live on GEL 10 and other things, teaching us what to do, I am tired of looking at them. [Salome Zurabishvili] is at least beautiful and second, those, who have not seen her mother, do not know what real beauty means.”
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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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