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Azerbaijanis in Georgia Propose Own Way to Tackle National Minorities’ Problems

Politics Materials 11 November 2008 10:25 (UTC +04:00)
Azerbaijanis in   Georgia Propose Own Way to Tackle National Minorities’ Problems

Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 November / Trend , corr. J.Babayeva /Azerbaijanis living in Georgia propose their own way to tackle problems of national minorities.

"A state organization would be established to tackle the problems of national minorities including Azerbaijanis in Georgia. This organization must carry out a program to remove problems of national minorities stage by stage. Georgia will fail to fulfill the obligation taken before the Council of Europe to protect rights of national minorities," Alabala Askarov, the Chairman of the 'Geyrat' popular movement of Azerbaijanis in Georgia, told trend News via a telephone from Tbilisi.

In December, representatives of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities will arrive in Tbilisi to hold a monitoring over how the country fulfills the obligation taken before the organization.

In 2005, the Georgian Parliament ratified a European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Georgian authorities started implementing of its own policy in the sphere of integration.

According to Askarov, Georgia does not fulfill its obligation. "National minorities in Georgia still face problems in the spheres of education, employment and obtaining land plots. "The Geogian Government does not take any step to tackle problems in this direction, there is not a legal basis, as well," Askarov said.

The laws which were accepted to tackle the problems of national minorities are very complicated. " Georgia's integration policy towards national minorities result in assimilation frequently," Askarov added.

According to Novruz Bayramov, the Chairman of the Azerbaijani Intellectuals Union in Georgia, problems of national minorities in Georgia have been removed gradually. "There are still staff problems the solution of which depends on the state policy," Bayramov told Trend via a telephone from Tbilisi.

According to unofficial data, there are 500,000 Azerbaijanis live in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia.

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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