ONE YEAR ON - Georgia Today

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Issue no: 851
• JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
• PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY
PRICE: GEL 2.50
In this week’s issue...
An Excess of Political Product
in Georgia
POLITICS PAGE 5
Deeply Concerned: Ogden on
the Contradictory Nature of
Georgian Politics
ONE YEAR ON
THE TRAGEDY REMEMBERED
June 13th will see the one year
anniversary of the Tbilisi flood.
Georgia Today takes a look back
Begi the hippo. Photo: Joseph Alexander Smith
PAGE 3
NATO to Offer Enhanced Package to Georgia
at Warsaw Summit in July
POLITICS PAGE 6
British Embassy
Celebrates
Queen’s
Birthday
SOCIETY PAGE 8
Monsoon 5: A little Less
Sugar, A Little More Cover,
Yes Please
BY TAMAR SVANIDZE
N
ATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg on Wednesday met
with Georgian President Giorgi
Margvelashvili at NATO’s Headquarters in Brussels for talks on
the Western alliance’s partnership with Georgia.
During a joint press conference with President
Margvelashvili, Stoltenberg praised Georgia for
its contributions to Euro-Atlantic security and
its strong commitment to NATO.
“At the Warsaw Summit next month, we will
further strengthen our package of support for
Georgia,” Stoltenberg said.
Continued on page 2
CULTURE PAGE 11
Georgia Shock Reigning
European Champions Spain
with “Unbelievable” Victory
SPORTS PAGE 15
2
NEWS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
UN General Assembly Adopts
Resolution for Refugees from Georgia
Environment for Europe
Ministerial Conference
PREPARED BY KATIE RUTH DAVIES
G
BY EKA KARSAULIDZE
T
he United Nations (UN) General
Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the right of safe, dignified
and unhindered return of all internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees
to their homes in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South
Ossetia) region on June 7. The resolution had 76 in
favor to 15 against, with 64 abstentions. This is the
first time that the number countries voting in favor
stands at more than those who abstained.
The resolution stresses the need for the uninterrupted implementation of humanitarian activities
and to ensure unhindered access for all IDPs, refugees and other persons residing in all conflictaffected areas throughout Georgia.
The resolution also refers to the need to develop
a timetable to ensure the voluntary, safe, dignified
and unhindered return of all internally displaced
persons and refugees affected by the conflict in
Georgia, to their homes.
Kakha Imnadze, Georgia’s Ambassador to the
UN, emphasized the recent murder of Giga Otkhozoria from Abkhazia who was shot by so-called
border guards while delivering food to his family.
The ambassador said it was a sad reminder of the
human cost endured by internally displaced Georgians. “This is why Georgia is submitting this
resolution,” he said, noting that the dead man had
been one of the 400,000 displaced persons and
refugees of all ethnicities and religions uprooted
from Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, and South Ossetia.
One of the countries which has voted against the
resolution each year for the past eight years is Russia. According to its deputy envoy to the UN, Evgeny Zagaynov, it would not help to solve problems
because its goal was not to improve the situation
of those displaced. “Behind the initiative was a
desire to divert attention from the real work of the
region, using the Assembly to advance unilateral
approaches and anti-Russian rhetoric. The resolution would have made sense if representatives of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia had been involved,”
Zagaynov said.
Along with Russia, among those against the resolution were Vietnam, Venezuela, Armenia, and
Cuba. Last year 76 countries were in favor to 16
against, with 78 abstentions.
Georgia has been submitting the resolution about
IDPs and refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia for the consideration of the UN General Assembly since 2009. The first instance saw support from
only 14 countries with 11 against and 105 abstentions.
Each year the number of the resolution supporters
increases.
eorgia is hosting the eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference of the United Nations Economic
Commission. The Ministerial Conference Batumi 2016 was organized by
the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
Protection of Georgia.
In the frame of the Ministerial, Georgia is hosting
approximately 600 delegates from 56 countries,
ministers, representatives of the business sector,
business associations and high-ranking representatives from 55 international organizations working
on environmental issues.
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili,
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources
Protection of Georgia, Gigla Agulashvili, Executive
Secretary of UNECE, Christian Bach, and Head of
the Government of the Autonomous Republic of
Adjara, Archil Khabadze, addressed conference
participants.
The eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial
Conference is a special format of cooperation
between the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s member countries, United Nation
organizations, governmental organizations, regional
environmental centers, non-governmental organizations, private sector and other interested parties.
Ministerial conferences are held once every 3-5
years as a high-ranking platform that facilitates
discussion on environmental issues between interested parties in order to identify priorities and to
plan joint activities for sustainable development.
The main topics of the conference are: Green
Economics Development in the Pan-European
Region, Air Quality Improvement for Better Environment, and Human Health. In the frame of the
conference a high-rank meeting will be held on the
topic of Education for Sustainable Development.
Countries and stakeholders from the pan-European
region have already agreed on a roadmap to speed
up the transition to a Green Economy between now
and 2030 and have begun to make an array of
pledges translating this into action, reports unece.
org. The Batumi Initiative on Green Economy (BIGE) was also launched today, made up of voluntary
actions from more than twenty countries. “We are
pleased to see so many concrete pledges coming
directly from ministers, to put the Green Economy
transition in motion in our region,” said Jan Dusik,
Head of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe.
The first Ministerial Conference Environment
for Europe, initiated by the Ministry of Environment Protection of the Czech Republic, was held
in 1991 in Dobris. Since then, seven ministerial
conferences have been held in Lucerne (Switzerland, 1993), Sofia (Bulgaria, 1995), Aarhus (Denmark,
1998), Kiev (Ukraine, 2003), Belgrade (Serbia, 2007)
and Astana (Kazakhstan, 2011).
NATO to Offer Enhanced
Package to Georgia at
Warsaw Summit in July
Continued from page 1
Stoltenberg highlighted that Georgia is the thirdlargest contributor to NATO’s Resolute Support
Mission in Afghanistan and welcomed Georgia’s
impressive defense reforms.
“Georgian troops have been standing shoulder
to shoulder with NATO for many years,” he said.
“Over the past two years, we have put in place a
Substantial NATO-Georgia package of support to
strengthen Georgia’s defense capabilities...Its
implementation is on track,” he added, referencing the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center located outside the Georgian capital
Tbilisi.
Stoltenberg reiterated that NATO would continue to support Georgia in moving closer to the
alliance with further training and joint missions.
In early May, more than 1,200 troops including,
500 Georgian, 650 US and 150 British took part in
the NATO-led Noble Partner exercises hold in
Georgia. The exercises were seen as a major step
towards boosting the small South Caucasus nation’s
defensive capabilities against its giant neighbor
Russia to the north.
Moscow was outraged by the drills and described
the exercises as a provocative move by NATO that
was aimed at destabilizing the Caucasus region
and an attempt to check Russia’s interests in what
it sees as its traditional sphere of influence.
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
3
A Year on From the Tbilisi Zoo Disaster
and Dozens of Questions Still Remain
BY VAZHA TABVERIDZE
T
he image of Begi the hippo
waddling through Tbilisi’s
muddy streets with a puzzled expression on his face
became an iconic image of
the devastingly deadly floods that swept
through the Georgian capital’s streets a
year ago.
The June 13, 2015 disaster turned the
international media’s attention to Georgia
after the flood claimed 20 lives, caused
millions of dollars in damage and nearly
wiped out the Tbilisi Zoo.
A year on from the tragedy and it has
become apparent that most of the damage could have been avoided if only Tbilisi’s city planners had been less reluctant
to listen to those who opposed building
a highway where the Vere River ultimately
spilled over its banks with devastating
consequences taking lives such as that of
Guliko Nozadze, a much-beloved zoo
caretaker, who with her husband and an
elderly watchman, perished in the flood
as they worked to release dozens of animals trapped in their cages.
Days after the flood, as the shock of the
devastation set in, panic spread throughout Tbilisi as word came that an escaped
tiger had attacked and killed a man. The
incident happened almost immediately
after both the government and zoo authorities assured Tbilisi’s residents that all of
the animals that were still loose had been
either captured or eliminated.
Outraged, the public demanded an
explanation as to how a tiger could still
be on the loose after the authorities had
guaranteed that all threats to the local
population had been eliminated.
According to the zoo’s director, Zurab
Gurielidze, the surviving animals had
been counted and zoo officials discovered
that a single tiger was still missing. They
quickly concluded that the unaccounted
for big cat had perished and was washed
away in the flood.
The government, however, refused to
take responsibility for the mistake and
promptly took Gurielidze in for questioning. He was later released without any
charges being brought against him.
Many unanswered questions still remain
regarding the unethical behavior of dozens of law enforcement agents who decided
to play the role of national hero by shooting and killing many of the zoo’s most
beloved animals who could have otherwise been neutralized by professional
handlers.
This is the most likely what led to the
death of beloved lion cub Shumba, who
was shot and killed by a police officer
before anyone could ascertain whether
or not the cub was dangerous.
Tbilisi Zoo’s inhabitants were not the
only animal victims of the flood as the
country’s largest dog shelter, founded by
businessman Tamaz Elizbarashvili, was
completely washed away with most of
the dogs still in their kennels.
In the year since the flood, Georgia’s
civil society has become emboldened
due to the incompetence of the government and city authorities. Immediately
after the tragedy, hundreds of young
volunteers worked diligently to clear
away the debris that clogged the river
in the aftermath of the events of June 13.
Many in Georgia still blame the gov-
ernment for their inexcusable handling
of the rescue operations and immediate
clean-up as a result of the flood. Only
footballer-turned-minister Kakha Kaladze
recieved a nationwide thumbs-up as he
took to the streets to help with the relief
effort. A photo of mud-spattered Kaladze
sitting wearily among debris, garbage,
and splintered trees instantly went viral.
In the wake of the disaster at the zoo,
city officials decided to relocate the city’s
new zoo to a safer locale outside the city
center near the Tbilisi Sea reservoir. Most
originally interpreted the decision as
being one that was meant to safeguard
against a similar tragedy being repeated
in the future. However, it now appears
that the zoo’s future remains up in the air
as dozens of local businessmen squabble
over the future site.
Construction has not yet begun and the
zoo will be operating at its current location for at least the next three years,
according to its administration.
Most outside observers now wonder
what the status of the Tbilisi Zoo is today.
The partially rebuilt site reopened its
gates on September 13, 2015, three months
after the flood. At the time, visitors were
surprised by the condition of the renovated upper half of the zoo. However,
the lower part was completely destroyed
by the flood and remains closed to this
day.
The area now has new apartments, grass,
roads and trees that reveal no trace of the
disaster that occurred in the city a year
ago.
Tbilisi Zoo is currently home to an albino
lion family and the main attraction, Begi
the hippo, who is oblivious to his own
superstardom. He remains as cheerful as
ever no matter how many visitors he
receives. Fortunately, the zoo still retains
the majority of its winged inhabitants, as
well as diverse non-predatory fauna.
22 new animals from European Zoos
have been donated, including wildebeests,
mongoose and a charming yet gruff group
of porcupines which have quickly become
crowd favorites.
Tbilisi Zoo, though almost halved in
size, remains open for business as it awaits
word on its fate in the coming year.
4
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
MFA Report Reveals Human Rights
Violations on Occupied Territories
BY ZVIAD ADZINBAIA
O
n June 6, the Georgian
Foreign Ministry (MFA)
released its first quarterly
report of 2016 assessing
the human rights situation
in the occupied regions of Georgia.
The document highlights that two
Georgian territories, Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, still remain under Russia’s
occupation and Georgians living on the
ground face gross violations of their
fundamental rights. “The ethnic Georgians still living in Abkhazia are often
subjected to restrictions on their freedom of movement, restrictions concerning receiving education in their native
language, as well as forced passportization.”
Since January 2013, the Russian occupation forces have intensified the process
of installation of razor wire and barbed
wire fences and other artificial obstacles
along the occupation lines in Abkhazia
and Tskhinvali regions. Currently, the
total length of artificial barriers along
the occupation line in Tskhinvali Region
is nearly 51 km. Razor and barbed wire
fences cover a stretch of more than 12
km in the Abkhazian region, the document emphasizes.
The report underlines the fact that in
the reporting period, February this year,
de-facto president of Abkhazia Raul
Khajimba signed a so-called “law on the
legal status of foreign citizens in Abkhazia.” The MFA is concerned that the
regulation is aimed at qualifying ethnic
Georgians living in Abkhazia as foreign
citizens and discriminating against them
in numerous ways.
“There is a threat that such so called
“laws” can become grounds for another
wave of ethnic cleansing,” the MFA warns.
“The adoption of the above-mentioned
so called “laws” are directly linked to
the new illegal wave of “passportization”
on the occupied territories.”
The report mentions that over 300,000
documents, including passports and
residence permits, were processed in
the Russian Federation to be distributed throughout the two occupied
regions.
Additionally, the MFA document states
that the practice of torture and ill-treatment in the occupied regions remain an
issue of concern that has been attested
to by various sources made available in
the reporting period. “Individuals
detained in the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali Region, who later returned to
undisputed Georgian territory, reported
incidents of mistreatment and abuse in
Ossetian detention centers. Mistreatment included inflicting cigarette burns,
and beatings.”
Restriction on freedom of movement
is one of the core topics included in the
account. “A recently published report of
Amnesty International states ‘movement
in and out of the breakaway territories
Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained
restricted.’”
According to the MFA document, violations of the right to property occur
systematically in the occupied regions
of Georgia. “It should be noted that
according to the Country Reports on
Occupation line separating
Abkhazia and Georgia’s
unoccupied territory.
Photo: Nana Kikalia
Human Rights Practices for 2015 recently
published by US Department of State,
in Abkhazia, the so-called “legal system”
prohibits property claims by ethnic
Georgians who left Abkhazia before,
during, or after the 1992-93 war, thereby
depriving all IDPs of their property rights
in Abkhazia.”
The MFA also claims that at the end
of the 2014-15 academic year, 11 schools
in the lower zone of Gali district (Abkhazia) had the status of Georgian schools
teaching subjects in the Georgian language. However, by the following September 2015, drastic changes had been
made to the curriculum in those schools.
Namely, classes in the first four grades
are now conducted in the Russian language, with the perspective of full transition into the Russian education system
within the next two years.
The Foreign Ministry is appealing to
the international community, as well
as international intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations, to
continue recognizing the occupation
of the territories of Georgia by Russia.
The MFA calls on the international
community to continue calling on the
Russian Federation to bear responsi-
bility for human rights violations in
the occupied regions of Georgia.
Georgian government forces fought
three wars against Russian-backed separatist forces in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali
regions 1991-2008. The wars left thousands dead and led to the ethnic cleansing of a quarter of a million ethnic Georgians.
Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions were
recognized as independent states by
Moscow following the 2008 war.
International law and the United Nations
continue to state that the regions remain
parts of Georgia.
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
5
An Excess of
Political Product
in Georgia
OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE
I
don’t know how much the world
has come to know Georgia as a
new independent nation in the
wake of the clamorous soviet collapse a while back, but before this
‘Geopolitical Catastrophe,’ we were
identified as Russians, which made us
angry and miserable because national
identity has always meant something
painfully important to us Georgians.
Today, we are open to the world in the
full sense of our national freedom and
independence, although still fragile and
fledgling. And the world is learning little by little who we are and where we
are coming from. The world has already
learnt that we love abundance. Suffice
to say that our sumptuous festive tables
with layers of food, wine pouring from
jugs like rivers and numerous toasts in
a prolonged and exhausting process of
eating and drinking have become a part
of our everyday lifestyle. Even the youth
who have had a chance to taste and adopt
the western table manners and habits
would cling to those overwhelming traditions of deep roots all over Georgia.
Even the kids whose moms and dads are
celebrating birthdays for them, would
elect a toastmaster, called ‘Tamada,’ to
lead the table with traditional wordy
toasts. Abundance is all over the place
– abundance in everything.
We are only forgetting here one con-
siderable field of activity where abundance is even more striking than in other
walks of life. Politics! I don’t think there
is another country in the world with a
multitude of political parties comparable
to ours. Georgia has more than 200 officially registered political parties who
claim participation in the political game.
Although their actual clout on our life
varies from none to very little, they still
want to be registered and desperately
try to be functional to some notable
extent. This is a real mania, but this is
our nature – we want to be in politics,
head over heels.
As curious as this political phenomenon
seems to be, it must have some sociopsychological grounds. Why should we
be so terribly preoccupied with what is
called politics? Is this a malady? Could
it be a national hobby? Some freaky
infatuation? Inflated love for politicking?
Attempt to survive? Desire for popularity? For a better life?
It is well known that Americans are
rationalists and pragmatic thinkers, if
not doers, and they have made a historical choice to let only two parties
build the political process in the country,
formally admitting to table one more
party, commonly called Independent.
America, with 400 million people, has
only two major and about 40 minor
political parties, Four-million strong
Georgia has about 10 major and 220
minor ones. Isn’t this something? Thank
God not all of them are participating in
the elections. Just imagine hundreds of
political parties in the electoral marathon
in our miniature Georgia. That would
be the laugh of the century. Even if only
10-15 parties show up and win enough
votes to get through, it will still create a
gruesome overall impression, and also,
the due predicament in the parliament
if all of them get into it by hook or by
crook.
On the other hand, the political showground might become the next comedy
show, what with the regular fist fights
likely to become the part with the highest ratings, leaving the verbal altercations
and vilifications far behind.
On a more serious note, questions coming to mind include, why are we so badly
obsessed with politics and politicians and
their parties? Could the reason be our
public opinion that our quality of life is
in their hands? Or could it be the expectation that politicians and their parties
might change something to the better so
that we can finally relax a little?
Do we seriously think that politicians
are the people they try to make us believe
they are – caring, loving, laborious, intelligent, faithful and patriotic? Do we really
think that this hilarious abundance of
political parties makes any sense in this
nation’s life? Such an abundance of
political parties and hundreds of thousands of citizens, clad in the hides of
political animals, perpetuate the everpresent political hysteria in Georgia
which only uses up our money, time and
energy with no tangible result to count
on.
The most central of all questions, how
come we have this much time to spend
on politics? If there are 220 political
parties to constitute our ideological
infrastructure, then presumably all of
them have the followers. Multiply the
number of parties by the average number of their adherents and you will get
a figure which goes beyond any understanding of participation of the public
in a political process.
When are we working on our economy,
if we are doing so at all? How do we
manage to create the material strength
for the survival of our families? For how
long are we going to be buried in political fuss, farce and vanity? It is the weird
and permanently growing abundance of
political parties that yields fruitless verbiage and gets us nowhere. It is the irrelevance of the good-for-nothing political
groupings and associations that make
our wits blunt and immobile. We need
hands, not parties, in abundance. Working hands! We don’t need to talk this
much, we need to be doing. The first and
foremost thing that our Western friends
prompt us for – not demand from us,
though – is to learn how to labor with a
maximum result in a minimum amount
of time. Political parties cannot do this.
They can only talk, and very often, only
up to a point. Then why such an abundance of a product we can’t use or sell?
6
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Deeply Concerned:
Lt. Col Robert Hamilton on
Georgia’s NATO Expectations Ogden on the
Contradictory Nature
of Georgian Politics
BY NANA SAJAIA, VOICE OF
AMERICA GEORGIAN SERVICE
F
ew nations are expecting the
NATO Warsaw summit with
the same anticipation as Georgia, with its foreign vector ever
pointing towards deeper integration into the North Atlantic Alliance.
It can be easily surmised that Georgia
will not be given a much-coveted membership action plan in Warsaw, but it is
expected that Georgia will not be left
entirely empty-handed, either. Robert
Hamilton, Lt. Col., US Army talked
through Georgia’s NATO expectations
in a chat with Voice of America’s Georgian bureau at the Security and Defense
Summit organized by the Georgian Ministry of Defense.
HOW WOULD YOU
CHARACTERIZE GEORGIA’S
RELATIONS WITH NATO
AND WHEN WILL IT BE
FULLY PREPARED TO
JOIN THE ALLIANCE?
My estimation is, and it was shared by
a lot of guests and high-level speakers
at the Summit, that Georgia is fully prepared for NATO membership, Georgia
has done a lot politically and militarily
to prepare for the Alliance- it is a very
large contributor to NATO in Afghanistan, was involved in Kosovo, which was
a NATO mission, and also contributed
in Iraq, which was not a NATO mission
but nevertheless a lot of NATO partners
participated. During the first day of the
Summit, a Noble Partner, which was a
US-British-Georgia exercise, wrapped
up. In that exercise, a Georgian Unit
was certified as fully meeting NATO
OP-ED BY TIM OGDEN
I
“Georgia’s NATO membership [has become] a political question”
standards, and recognized as fully interoperable for all NATO missions.
WHAT IS THE MAIN VALUE
OF THIS EXERCISE FOR
GEORGIA’S ARMED FORCES?
I think the real value and importance of
this exercise was the certification that
came at the end. The Georgian unit is
now fully interoperable and fully qualified for other NATO operations in the
future- fully meeting NATO standards
in all areas. Georgia, as you know, has
participated in a lot of NATO missions
but in an exercise like this NATO was
able to assess a unit against a specific
set of criteria. Looking forward, GeorgiaUS and Georgia-NATO exercises will
continue, but the goal is to certify more
military units to NATO standards and
qualify them fully for further operations.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE
UP-COMING WARSAW SUMMIT
WILL BRING TO GEORGIA?
It’s hard to predict what will happen at
the Summit and as you know, all members of the Alliance have to agree to
bring in a new member. I know that
the US policy on NATO has been that
Georgia belongs in the Alliance as it
has met all the necessary criteria. It is
also official NATO policy- that Georgia
and Ukraine will become members of
NATO-Alliance, as said during the 2008
Bucharest Summit. It is now more of
a political question and no longer an
issue of military interoperability, no
asking whether Georgia has done enough
as far as its defense reforms, or building its military forces to meet NATO
standards or whether Georgia meets
the democratic form of government that
NATO requires as a standard. It now
becomes a political question of how
NATO will follow through on its pledge
that Georgia and Ukraine become members of the Alliance.
wasn’t a very big fan of the former
government – I’m not a big fan of
any government, since governments are invariably made up of
politicians, and politicians are
tricky beasts at best and downright villains at worst. I know that the United
National Movement was responsible for
filming the intimate lives of rivals and
citizens, but seeing as the British Parliament is under scrutiny for participating
in organized paedophilia since the 1970s,
why, what’s a sex tape more or less? (It’s
true, too; Google Jimmy Savile and you’ll
see what I’m talking about. No mad conspiracy theories in my Op-Eds, no sir.)
However, neither am I particularly
enamored with the current parliamentary infestation; making a footballer who
looks as though he’d have difficulty
remembering the days of the week Minister of Energy and seemingly taking
turns at who-gets-to-play-Prime-Minister this year hardly suggests competence
or responsibility. Things are getting better, of course (sort of, bar acts of occasional Orthodox Christian violence
against people who are ‘different’), but
whether that’s due to the new government or if Georgia was already on the
right track is, I think, open to debate.
Despite my misgivings about Georgian
Dream, I did meet the President last year
at an embassy party and took to him
immensely, not only because he seems
to be one of the few voices of reason in
the government, but also because he didn’t
allow his bodyguards to shoot me when
I drunkenly staggered over to him and
slurred congratulations on a job well
done. I didn’t actually slap him on the
back, but gave him a back-slapping look
designed to show him that he had got T.
C. J. Ogden firmly in his corner. At any
rate, he was good enough to allow a picture to be taken of us together, which I
remain rather proud of, not least because
he actually looks far more excited to meet
me than I am to meet him. (Incidentally,
I wonder if the British tax payer knows
their money goes towards funding embassy
parties which distribute enough wine to
fill Lake Victoria, unless the Georgians
supply it. Aye, well, fill her up, waiter.)
My mate the President has occasionally
come into conflict with members of the
government for (quite rightly) disagreeing with them and Mr. Ivanishvili. I was
surprised to see that whenever my pal
Giorgi verbally brawls (though I’d pay to
see a physical fight between the President
and some MPs; he looks as though he’d
just as soon spar with the police than eat
his dinner), the international community
do and say nothing. This seems completely
at odds with the established MO of the
helicopter diplomats who seem ready to
stick their oars in at any opportunity and
express ‘deep concern’ at anything that
doesn’t meet European parliamentary
standards (whatever those might be).
Continued on page 7
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
7
Mimosa and Gunpowder
in Sokhumi
OP-ED BY ZAZA JGARKAVA
The main allies of
the Abkhazian
opposition in their
quest to remove
Khajimba’s
government are the
Georgians from
Gali. Therefore,
negotations are
ongoing to give
Georgian Gali back
the right to vote
A
round the second anniversary of the Tangerines Revolution in occupied Abkhazia, the new Mimosa
Revolution is now underway.
We hear that, together with the scent of
Mimosas, gunpowder can be smelled in
the city of Sokhumi with the so-called
President of the occupied territory, Raul
Khajimba, having set the date for the referendum about the need for early presidential elections for July 10th. Whether
or not he’ll be able to avoid the revolution
by means of that referendum is unknown
even within his closest circle.
As the local opposition says, “The Moor
has done his duty. The Moor can go.”
The Moor in this case is of course
Khajimba, who, as the head of the referendum initiative Daur Tania says, failed
to fulfill any of the election promises
given to Abkhazians. “[He] couldn’t
change the clannish government, couldn’t
improve the economic situation and
failed to increase the Russian subsidy.”
In addition to the unfulfilled promises,
the reason for disfavoring Khajimba is
also his origins. Unlike the previous de
facto presidents, he is not from the Abkhazian elite and is not from Gudauta (a
region in Abkhazia), instead heralding
from Tkvarcheli. Two years ago he was
elected President only for his former
friendship with Putin. Like Putin,
Khajimba is also a KGB officer. Despite
this, the main reason behind the attacks
on Khajimba is said to be the Turkish
problem, because when the confrontation peaked between Moscow and Ankara,
Khajimba clearly sided with Moscow.
Indeed, Khajimba’s direct order was
Welcome
to ban Turkish ships from entering
Sokhumi Port. The Turkish were also
denied the right to export ore from the
Tkvarcheli coal mines. Other Turkish
businesses closed down. Expert on Caucasus Issues, Mamuka Areshidze, said
that it was precisely the disruption of
the Russian-Turkish balance that turned
Khajimba’s government upside down.
Whether Khajimba will be able to avoid
the existing political crisis or not will
become apparent at the referendum.
Khajimba is confident that the Abkhazian people will become fully aware of
the existing situation, which includeds
electricity deficits and budget sequestration, before 10th July and that “the irresponsible policy of the opposition will
get a proper response from the citizens.”
On 10th July, the population residing
on the occupied territory will need to
answer the question “does it consider
early presidential elections necessary?”
The region of Gali, densely populated
by Georgians, will not have the opportunity to vote, as they are currently
deprived of this right. And this is exactly
how Khajimba came to power, in an initiative supported by Abkhazians. Today,
the situation is different, as the main
allies of the Abkhazian opposition in
their quest to remove Khajimba’s government are exactly these Georgians
from Gali. Therefore, negotations are
ongoing to give Georgian Gali back the
right to vote.
Fifty thousand Georgians live in Gali
today- it is the second largest ethnic
group after Abkhazians. Slightly more
than sixty thousand people are ethnic
Abkhazian and most of them are against
Khajimba. Considering the fact that the
sum of votes of both Abkhazians and
Georgians makes up the majority, simple
arithmetics suggests that the fate of
Khajimba depends on the vote of the
Georgians. Whether in the remaining
days before the referendum the opposition will be able to return the right to
vote to Georgians through the required
legislative change will soon be known.
“Khajimba might want to show Moscow
that local population is unsatisfied by
the laws that Russia wants Abkhazia to
adopt,” says Areshidze. “Stories spread
through various internet sources suggest
that serious warning messages are being
sent from Russia and that if Abkhazians
do not agree, the rebellion of the second
largest ethnic group will be inevitable.”
Whenever my pal Giorgi verbally brawls (though I’d pay to see a physical fight
between the President and some MPs; he looks as though he’d just as soon spar with
the police than eat his dinner), the international community do and say nothing
Deeply Concerned:
Ogden on the
Contradictory Nature
of Georgian Politics
Ivanishvili’s clandestine involvement
with the government has become doubly alarming in recent months because
it doesn’t seem very clandestine anymore. The man has openly said that he
is no longer involved with the running
of the country, yet equally openly appears
at party sessions and gives speeches on
the future of the government. Why, just
this week he declared that if society has
had enough of him, he will retire from
public life...directly contradicting his
earlier comments of having retired from
public life some time ago.
Quite why this has not been picked
up by the diplomatic corps or the
President (of whom I had expected
better things) is anyone’s guess, especially as foreign attaches here are always
happy to jump on anything they feel
to be ‘undemocratic’. Perhaps they feel
if they target one party they might be
violating their official neutrality and
influencing public opinion, but any
criticism directed towards Georgian
Dream in this way would be entirely
justified and nobody’s fault except the
party itself.
If all the international community is
capable of doing is expressing ‘deep
concern’ over internal issues, I’d like
to see them express it towards something worthwhile. Opposition government in Georgia does not seem to
amount to much beyond complaining
and screaming ‘Conspiracy!’, but it is
frightening that their fears might be
justified. When the government is
accused of being controlled from behind
the scenes, and the puppeteer has now
stopped even trying to deny that he
pulls the strings, some sort of response
is surely warranted. If nobody else will
express it, I will; I officially state that
I am deeply concerned. A career in the
diplomatics beckons me, I’m sure.
8
SOCIETY
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Want to Know WHERE to Go,
Stay, Eat, Drink and Buy?
New Essential Travel Guide
to Georgia Now Available
Parties are being held worldwode to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth. Photo: PA
F
rom 10th June WHERE – the first issue
of an essential guide to Georgia - will be
available in major hotels and restaurants
in Tbilisi and very soon across Georgia,
giving travelers the low down on the
most famous tourist destinations throughout the
country.
Each section of WHERE is opened by special
celebrity guests sharing their unique experience
and knowledge about WHERE to Go, Stay, Eat,
Drink, Buy. Also discover the insiders’ guide to the
top eateries, best shops and best sights- and learn
some things that even your tour guide might not
know!
According to WHERE publisher, George Sharashidze, “With a strong belief in the demand for
an essential travel guide about Georgia, my team
and I have spent more than six months developing
the concept of WHERE – an English language
guidebook with the most accurate and, more importantly, regularly updated information about WHERE
to Go, Stay, Eat, Drink, Buy. With WHERE you can
plan and organize your stay in Georgia both in the
capital and regions, find out what’s worth seeing,
learn where to find the best food for any taste and
budget and where to go shopping.”
In addition to the new WHERE guidebook, travelers can buy Where Discount Cards – 10 magic
discount cards for only 10 GEL (1 GEL per card)
and enjoy 170 GEL worth of free gifts and extra
discounts up to 20% from locales carefully selected
by WHERE managers to make sure that readers
receive excusive offers from the best of attractions
in each sections of WHERE to Go, Stay, Eat, Drink,
Buy.
Interested in those Discount Cards? Head on
down to the souvenir shops in the Old Town- on
Leselidze Street and in the Abanotubani and Sharden
areas for your copy of WHERE. Otherwise, grab
your free copy of WHERE (without discount cards)
at one of the hotels or café-bars in central Tbilisi.
Feel free to call WHERE HQ anytime to order your
copy of WHERE & WHERE Discount Cards. TEL
+995 032 2295919.
British Embassy
Celebrates Queen’s
Birthday
PREPARED BY KATIE RUTH DAVIES
B
ritish Ambassador Alexandra Hall Hall
on June 9th hosted a Queen’s Birthday
Party to celebrate the 90th Birthday of
Her Majesty the Queen.
The reception was attended by senior Georgian Ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, members of the diplomatic community, members of the British community in
Georgia, the business sector and civil society
representatives.
Speaking before the occasion, Ambassador Hall
Hall said, “This year the Queen celebrates her 90th
Birthday, so it is a very special occasion for all British people, including our embassy in Tbilisi. This
year is also the 400th anniversary of the UK’s great
bard, William Shakespeare, as well as the 850th
anniversary of Georgia’s national poet, Shota
Rustaveli, so we will also be celebrating in their
honor, with a special theme for the party of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ an Elizabethan-era banquet, and special performances of music, dance
and theater.”
It is to be Alexandra Hall Hall’s last hosting of a
Queen’s Birthday Party in Georgia as she wraps up
her four year term in August, to be replaced by
Justin McKenzie Smith. “It has been an honor to
serve here as Britain’s representative at this important time in Georgia’s history,” the Ambassador
said. “This party will be an opportunity not only
for us to celebrate the enduring friendship between
the UK and Georgia, but also for me to thank personally all those with whom we have worked closely
over the last three years to make this relationship
even stronger.”
International Expedition Discovers
New Traces of Ancient Wine
Civilization in Georgia
BY EKA KARSAULIDZE
N
ew archaeological discoveries continue to confirm that Georgia is one
of the oldest wine civilizations in
the world.
The first grape seeds were discovered in Kvemo Kartli region, south-eastern Georgia,
two years ago. Throughout the following years, an
international team of archaeologists and students
have managed to find more residential buildings,
vine dust, domestic work instruments, vessels and
pits dating back to 6,000 BC.
The Georgian National Museum (GNM) held
archaeological digs together with the University
of Toronto, Canada, in Imiri village, Kvemo Kartli
region. This year young Canadian and Georgian
archaeologists also got involved in the expedition
within the Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition (GRAPE), organized by the
GNM and University of Toronto.
GRAPE aims to popularize Georgian cultural
heritage and historical disciplines connected with
it, including archaeology, ethnology and paleobotany, as well as developing and popularizing the
Georgian winemaking culture. “Our excavations
have acquired another important function as an
educational center,” said David Lordkipanidze,
Director General of the Georgian National Museum
and Head of the expedition.
Archaeologists say that the processing and paleobotanical study of the discovered materials is
vitally important and creates a clearer picture of
the ancient wine culture that existed in Georgia.
Further excavations of the eastern Georgian Neolithic monuments has also proved that, with the
development of agriculture, society shifted to a
new stage of life, which began the process of
increased agricultural awareness and animal domestication.
The joint project of the Georgian National Museum
and the National Wine Agency “Research of Georgian Grapes and Wine” has been ongoing since
2014 under the patronage of the Georgian government. The first findings that year aroused great
interest among both the international scientific
community and the press, which also recognized
Georgia as one of the most ancient wine civilizations.
Today, the project has reached a truly international level, gathering scientists and experts from
numerous countries, states and institutes, including Georgia itself, Pennsylvania, Montpellier, Milan,
Copenhagen, Toronto University, the Israel Vaisman Institute and the Montpelier Research Institute.
GEORGIA TODAY
SOCIETY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Tomorrow’s Chefs
Celebrate at Funicular
BY SOPO CHKHEIDZE
T
he victors in a recipe competition
visited the Funicular Restaurant on
Sunday to see their winning recipes
turned into a mouth-watering meal.
The competition was the brainchild
of Funicular Executive Chef Jorge da Silva who
challenged students from St. George’s BritishGeorgian School (BGS), where his wife Lucy teaches,
to suggest some new recipes for his restaurant.
There were 30 entries in all, and three winners
were chosen by Jorge. The first place winner, Lazare
Zhvania (aged 11), will have his recipe included in
the Funicular menu for the next month.
Lazare and his guests watched and helped Executive Chef Jorge prepare the dish following the
recipe. The second and third place winners, Nugo
Mtsituri (7) and Andria Laitadze (8), were also
invited to sample the dish when cooked, along with
Lazare and his guests.
A special assembly was held at St. George’s British-Georgian School on Monday last week for
Executive Chef Jorge to announce the prize winners. He also presented certificates to all who had
participated, and a special wooden spoon trophy
to Lazare Zhvania, the first prize winner.
Jorge da Silva later commented that he was pleased
with the interest shown in the competition. “There
were several really good entries, and it was hard
to pick just a few prize winners. I hope that the
event might set some students thinking about
becoming chefs in the future.” He added that he
plans to repeat the challenge next year.
At the presentation assembly, BGS Headmaster
Dr. Christopher Greenfield thanked Mr. da Silva
for arranging the competition. “You picked a novel
idea which really seized the interest of our younger
students,” he told Mr. da Silva. “We thank you for
all the thought, time and effort you have put into
helping our students take up your challenge.”
Fashionable Café-Restaurant
Dinehall Opens on Rustaveli
Good Food is a Human Right
BY MAKA LOMADZE
T
he new eye-catching space located at
28 Rustaveli in a late 18th century
building and covering a total area of
1000 sq. m, has become the home of
the first casual café-restaurant
designed by Maqro Construction’s designers: Dinehall Fresh Casual. After a USD 6 mln investment,
Dinehall has opened its doors ready to serve guests
from 07.30 am to 02 00 am.
Offering a fabulous mix of food, wine and art,
Dinehall combines five venues in one. The first
floor includes a Café and Restaurant serving local
and international dishes, while the floor below
houses a bar/wine cellar surrounded by the preserved historical walls of the building. There is
also more space available for special and corporate
events in an expo-hall section. This space also
showcases artwork made by Georgian sculptors
Levan Bujiashvili and Lasha Kukhalashvili from
Art Group Red Table.
The design is eclectic, the mix of styles encompassing the most exquisite taste. As Murat Avji, CEO of
Maqro Construction, said in conversation with GEORGIA TODAY, ‘Fresh Casual’ was selected as the name
of the branch because the dishes are prepared with
the freshest ingredients - something that Georgia can
be proud of – as well as the expertise of top chefs
with international experience. “We believe that people deserve the best of everything. That is why we
are opening the first branch of our international fresh
casual café-restaurant in Tbilisi, with the belief that
‘Good food is a human right,’” he said.
Dinehall management claims that the dishes they
offer are already outstanding, and guaranteed to
beat the best of expectations. The menu comprises
international as well as local dishes. Attendees at
the pre-opening event had a chance sample a
5-course meal starting with a sumptuous chicken
soup and mushrooms, followed by an ultra-light
salad of greens. The lamb barbecue came as the
third course, carried on by the main course – beef
with pasta. Last but not least, if not the best, a delicious chocolate dessert with caramelized banana
sprinkled with walnut slices- a definite favorite
with the female guests!
GEORGIA TODAY spoke to fellow guest Lika
Lazariashvili, “Everything is so exquisite here. I do
believe that Dinehall will become of the favorite
haunts for Georgians as well as foreigners. The
only problem is parking, as usual. If somebody
wishes to have a fashionable birthday, wedding,
corporate party, or just a romantic dinner, this is
the right place. The tasty food and original interior
make a really nice tandem.”
Contact: www.edelbrand.ge
Phone: 599 461908
9
10
SOCIETY
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Interlude,
Meditation
BY TONY HANMER
I
am writing this article from my departure
area at Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin International Airport, waiting to return to Tbilisi and
then home, to Svaneti. I made a very short
trip back to Canada to see off a great, nearly
lifelong friend who had just died when a brain aneurysm four years old finally betrayed him into a stroke,
a week in hospital, and the end. He and his wife had
known of it, but had decided to live their lives as if
ignorant, also telling no one. Indeed, they and another
couple, all dear friends, had visited us several years
ago to build our first proper indoor bathroom. His
widow now expressed her gladness that they had
seen our mountain fastness in time.
It took me three flights and two ten-hour layovers
to make this journey out, and a similar ordeal coming back. But it was required, by the decades of our
friendship, his mentorship of me, and my wife’s
insistence. We did our best to arrange for someone
to come and help her with the farm work and other
manual labor while I was away, and I made my
most hurried exit from Georgia ever, buying a ticket
for the next day in Zugdidi. Aside from the flights,
I also had a six-hour evening train from there to
Tbilisi and a sleepless night outward, and now
await another, all-night sleeper wagon inward. The
hours, and the jet-lag, add up.
The funeral: over five hundred people and a wonderful testimony to the lives this man participated
in during his nearly seven decades. He was father
to many. Gone, suddenly, and we now in shock,
grateful for his legacy, clinging to each other for
support, especially his widow and three sons and
several young grandchildren, too young to understand. But resting in faith, too.
So, that is the why of me being here. When I
started writing these articles for GT more than five
years ago, it was after a single letter to the news-
paper by email from Mestia where my wife and I
lived at the time. A single answer, detailing word
counts, photos, schedule and payment, and we were
off. No other communication necessary, even by
phone. It was about six months before I even
descended, met anyone at the newspaper’s headquarters in Tbilisi and picked up my first accumulated salary.
I usually write about Svaneti as my home and
what’s going on in our lives and in the village and
province, occasionally adding other themes if I
happen to be elsewhere in Georgia or abroad,
including the UK and Zimbabwe and Canada. But
the ease of doing this, on a battery-powered laptop
which also has all my photographs on it and from
which I can email the articles from nearly anywhere
on earth, is delightful. I fell into this part-time career
with the greatest of ease and luck. It gives me a
weekly writing commitment which I have never
failed to meet, and makes me find something to
write about whether I’m “in the mood” or not.
The themes, sometimes large, sometimes tiny,
present themselves for inspection, especially when
one is in the habit of seeking them out. I choose,
and sometimes make notes for the future when
there might be a dry moment. I very much want
to describe life in these faraway mountains, to put
it on people’s radar (also accessible anywhere in
the world where there is internet) and do what I
can to ensure that Svaneti is discovered and then
never forgotten. Because forgetting would lead to
a slow extinction, the death of an entire people,
and their funeral would only happen long after the
fact. May it never be necessary.
The water birds were picnic visitors in Edmonton, there to replace my sorrow with peace.
Tony Hanmer runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook
group, now with over 1300 members, at
www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri:
www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
New Stretch of Georgia’s
East-West Highway
Completed
BY EKA KARSAULIDZE
G
eorgian Prime Minister Giorgi
Kvirikashvili opened new a 7 km
section of the nation’s East-West
Highway on Wednesday.
The government plans to improve
all major highways in the country, as well as
build roads leading to the country’s main tourist destinations, Kvirikashvili announced
The new stretch of the East-West highway
makes up just over half of the planned 12km
road that will be completed by the end of the
year.
Road and tunnel construction will also be car-
ried out in the isolated mountainous regions of
Svaneti and Tusheti. An enhanced road linking
the highland Racha Region to Kutaisi in western
Georgia with Abastumani in the south will also
be built in the coming years, according to the
government’s infrastructure plans.
Kvirikashvili noted that the government wants
to make Kutaisi one of the country’s most important transportation hubs.
The East-West Highway is the main route from
Tbilisi to the Black Sea coast. The highway is
also a part of the Silk Road project that links
Europe and Asia.
The World Bank is one of the main investors
in the East-West Highway’s renovation. In total,
it has provided USD 367 million (778 million
GEL) to Georgia to develop the project.
GEORGIA TODAY
CULTURE
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Spiritual Messages
from Bulgaria
BY MAKA LOMADZE
O
n Friday, 3 June 2016, the
Embassy of Bulgaria opened
the exhibition ‘Spiritual
Messages’ at the Tbilisi
History Museum Karvasla,
an exposition that is full of mysticism and
reminds us of the necessity to be alone
sometimes in order to try to gain insight
despite our busy schedules.
The exhibition is the personal project
of the Bulgarian artist Daniela Todorova
whose works of art - predominantly installations with an air of discrete mysteriousness - present the profound bonds of
Bulgaria’s culture with a number of ancient
civilizations and cultures around the
world through art embodying history,
myths, legends, mysteries, memories and
archetypes. The exposition is designed
to show the image of Bulgaria’s ancient
heritage abroad within the framework of
the SOFIA PAPER ART FEST 2016. It is
a follow-up of the AMATERAS Foundation exhibition ‘Paper Innovation’ pre-
Todorova
identifies the
common element
in ancient cultures:
the worship of
heaven and
nature, and rituals
performed to
honor the Sun
and Fertility
Read. Learn. Enjoy.
Pick up a copy of Georgia Today Education
at any BIBLUS shop or phone 229 59 19
Price: 2 Gel
Monsoon 5: A
little Less Sugar,
A Little More
Cover, Yes
Please
BY KATIE RUTH DAVIES
T
When we’re in a
hurry, we forget
that our belief and
our religion is our
power to succeed
and to be happy
sented in Karvasla Gallery in Tbilisi in
November 2015.
“This is the third Bulgarian exposition
here,” said Lika Mamatsashvili, Director
of Karvasla. “I think the connection
between the two countries has always
been big and I think it will be continued.”
“The display shows the bronze sculpture and paper art that bring the air of
ancient times and their spiritual messages
to the modern humans,” said a proud H.E.
Plamen Bonchev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to
Georgia. “The stylistics is inspired by the
ancient cultures of Thrace, Colchis, Asyria,
Egypt, Greece, Rome, Phoenicia and other
lands and cultures, and also Kolkhida.
The aim is to show Bulgaria’s contribution to the history of world culture.”
After Georgia, the exhibition will move
to Prague, Great Britain and other countries.
GEORGIA TODAY spoke to artist Daniela Todorova.
“During my previous visit, everything
inspired me, but first of all, the culture. I
saw such strong Christianity here, something that was very interesting for me.
My husband and I decided to use the
language of the past and present as they
are all somehow connected,” she said.
“Here in the ornaments, you can see
ancient elements coming from the sun.
Jesus as an archetype is the energy of the
sun, giving us light, love, optimism, and
power to go further. This project is very
important for contemporary people,
11
because sometimes when we are in a
hurry, we forget that our belief and our
religion is our power to succeed and to
be happy.”
Todorova identifies the common element in ancient cultures: the worship of
heaven and nature, and rituals performed
to honour the Sun and Fertility. The solar
symbol, which is the main focus of the
exposition and implies antiquity and
spiritual teachings on the territory of
Bulgaria, have also played an enormous
role in the development of Europe and
its system of spiritual values. The incredible bond of humankind with its creator
– the Universe – is in the heart of the
exposition, displaying the ancient links
and similarities of cultures, cults and
symbols. It presents in an allegorical way
– through the media of paper and bronze
– the enigma of the ancient Thracians
and Hun-Bulgarians, the Bogomils, the
achievements of Christianity, the Glagolhicalphabet,theHun-BulgarianRoboshitza
writing system, the ancient Proto-Bulgarian calendar.
GEORGIA TODAY also talked to Todor
Todorov, Daniela’s husband: “I have a
large outdoor sculpture in 18 different
countries. I chose my old works as they
are appropriate to this exhibition”. Those
interested in his art, can visit www.todor.
org.uk
The door is open until June 15, every
day but for Monday, from 10 am to 5.30
pm. The Tbilisi History Museum is located
next to Sioni Church, close to Chardin
Street. Entrance costs 3 GEL.
he much anticipated Maroon
5 concert held in Batumi last
night was more wet than
sweet. The concert, delayed
from a 5pm start to close to
21:30 saw the fabulous Maroon 5 boys
stepping out on stage just as the clouds
let go their load...and they kept on letting
go for the next two hours and beyond.
While Maroon 5 hit out at the audience
with all its best loved numbers, the thick
stage-hugging crowd in the packed openair area, known as Miracle Square, on the
beach near Radisson Blu Batumi and the
future Batumi Tower, tried its best to buoy
its enthusiasm by sheltering under umbrellas and cheap raincoats. Undeterred by
the downpour, they sang the well-loved
lyrics at the top of their lungs. Yet this
writer, staying far enough back from the
throngs to be able to move all limbs freely
and belt out her favourite tunes without
disturbing the neighbors, felt that Maroon
5’s share of the USD 13 million ‘Check in
Georgia’ project would have been more
wisely spent on holding the concert in
roofed premises.
“Check in Georgia promotes Georgia’s
popularity abroad and will make it an
attractive destination for tourists…this
will also enhance our image on the international market. Georgia should occupy
its deserved place on the international
cultural calendar,” Minister of Culture
and Monument Protection Mikheil Giorgadze said in April, adding that the project
plans to create modern open-air concert
venues on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. This
in obviously optimistic ignorance of the
forthcoming rainy season.
Maroon 5 were fabulous, if not clearly
tired from their extensive Eastern European tour and lacking in that much-needed
connection with the crowd (not even a
“gamarjoba!” that Georgians so love,
though Adam Levine did apologise for
the weather and there were some Georgian polyphonic singers on stage for a
few minutes singing along). The problem,
though far from being Adam’s fault, was
that very weather, so heavy that Maroon
5 wrapped up the concert quickly, with
Continued on page 15
12
CULTURE
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
Festival ‘From Easter to Ascension’ Closes
BY MAKA LOMADZE
O
n June 5, Tbilisi Concert
Hall hosted the concert of
world-famous Georgian
pianist Alexander Korsantia in a show held in the
frame of the annual festival ‘From Easter
to Ascension.’.
The festival was founded in 2006 by
the Patriarch and the Akaki Ramishvili
Foundation ‘Tradition and Innovation.’
The partner is Artists’ Union ‘ConceptArt’.
Over the years, the well-loved festival
has been led by many world-famous
Georgian legends. Since 2011, the internationally acclaimed Georgian pianist
Alexander Korsantia has been the permanent artistic director and works to
greatly enrich the program. On June 5,
he welcome the packed hall to the 11th
festival. He assessed the festival as “a
talented young student who knows a lot
already and is already a serious performer,
but who realizes well that it is not the
end and is committed to self-development, aiming to go further and grow.”
This year’s festival was opened by
Verdi’s Don Carlos by Iano Alibegashvili,
to commemorate the great composer’s
115th anniversary, followed by Georgian
composer Vajha Azarashvili’s Creative
Evening and Jewish genius Khen Tsimbalista’s performance on drums.
Korsantia in particular highlighted the
‘unforgettable’ concert of Sergey Babayan,
where the latter performed Bach’s 24
fugas and preludes, a show that is reportedly “to remain fixed in the memories
of those who attended it.”
The festival was supported by the
Georgian Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, namely, the project
‘Check in Georgia,’ and Tbilisi City Hall.
Just before the start of the latest performance, Davit Narmania, Mayor of Tbilisi,
also spoke to the audience: “We will
actively support the festival next year. I
want to thank his holiness, as well as
Alexander Korsantia, who is actively
involved not only in this festival’s organ-
ization, but also in other interesting
cultural occasions. That is why, last year,
we conferred on him the title of Honorary Citizen which I congratulate him
with once again!”
Korsantia stepped forward together
with the Evgeny Mikeladze Georgian
Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by
famed Georgian conductor and composer, Nikoloz Rachveli, who gave an
honorary accompaniment to the legendary pianist. The Patriarchate Choir of
the Sameba (Trinity) Cathedral, headed
by Svimon Jangulashvili, also participated. The core of the program consisted
of Sergey Prokopiev’s piano and orchestra concerto 3. From the Georgian repertoire, the local classical musician Alex
Machavariani’s Suite from the Ballet
‘Othello’ was in the spotlight. As scheduled, there were choir compositions of
the Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia the Second
as well as those written by various Georgian composers. However, the main
surprise came with three musical pieces
from the well-loved film ’Once upon a
Time in America,’ composed by Ennio
Morricone.
The audience enjoyed the divine musical piece of his Holiness, called ‘Kyrie
Eleison’, which opened and closed the
June 5 concert. Together with the Male
Choir, the solo was sung by the young
and very promising opera singer Natalia
Kutateladze. For the second time, this
blissful tune was played by Alexander
Korsantia, at encore, transporting many
a listener to a higher realm.
GEORGIA TODAY spoke briefly to the
attending legendary Sukhishvili dancer
Pridon Sulaberidze: “It was an incomparable concert. Such days makes us live
longer.”
And so right he was!
10 Galaktion Street
Movies for Peace:
Georgia Hosts HWPL
Short Film Festival
BY TATIA MEGENEISHVILI
T
he first Heavenly Culture,
World Peace, Restoration
of Light (HWPL) Short Film
Festival was held in Tbilisi,
at the Georgian National
Museum, on June 4.
Around 70 participants had submitted
their short films on the theme of peace
from which 9 works were selected to be
screened publicly.
The jury consisted of movie director
Rusudan Chkonia; Head of the Strategic
Communications Division at the Ministry of Defense of Georgia, Shalva Tevdoradze; and HWPL Delegation representative, Kayla Chang.
The jury members chose films in three
nominations to be awarded: Best Short
Film went to ‘Letters’ (directed by Keti
Giashvili from Chaikhana), the Best
Director went to ‘Roots’ (directed by
Pioneer Film School students) and the
Best Actor went to ‘Butterfly’ (directed
by Anna Akhalaia).
The HWPL delegation chose ‘Roots’
for a special HWPL Prize.
The Best Short Film, ‘Letters,’ is a series
of videos containing letters from Abkhazian people who live in Georgia, written to their family and friends who have
not been seen in over 23 years. The movie
reflects the situations of 250,000 people
who were forced to leave their homes
in Abkhazia.
Chairman of the Business Chamber
and Professor at the Tbilisi State University (TSU), Emzar Jgerenaia, said the
short films screened during the festival
moved the attendees and went a ways
towards promoting peace in Georgian
society.
“I hope this cultural platform is held
often and results in positive effects in
Georgia,” Jgerenaia added.
This film festival is a practical achievement of the culture of peace that is
specified in Article 10 of the Declaration
of Peace and Cessation of War, helping
towards a turning point in the history of
humanity that has commemorated war
until now, inspiring the public to have a
mentality of peace.
The festival was organized and planned
by HWPL throughout six months. It was
sponsored by Peter Moennig, founder
of the Peter Moennig Foundation.
HWPL is an international peace organization with leaders from all levels working alongside youth and women. HWPL
hosted the HWPL World Alliance of
Religions Peace Summit in September
2014 with around 2000 leaders worldwide
attending. The ‘Signing Ceremony for the
Agreement to Propose the Enactment of
International Law’ took place there.
Continued on page 13
Tel: (995 32) 2 45 08 08
E-mail: [email protected]
CULTURE
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
13
Andrew Kovalev – A
Portrait Photographer
for Future Generations
IS THERE SOMEONE YOU
WOULD LIKE TO PHOTOGRAPH?
BY MERI TALIASHVILI
Oh, yes. I want to photograph Nick Cave.
He is an incredibly talented person, who
inspires me a lot, and to photograph him
is like a dream.
R
ussian born portrait photographer Andrew Kovalev
started photography as a
hobby but in a few years
became a professional. Leaving his homeland to pursue a photographic education, Kovalev travelled a
lot to find his final destination, ending
up in Paris at the Spéos Paris Photographic Institute. He takes environmental editorial portraits across the UK,
Europe, and Russia. His photos have
beautified the covers of Forbes, RBC,
Simple Wine News, were published in
Le Point, Der Spiegel, The Sunday Times,
Le Monde, and Bloomberg Business
week. GEORGIA TODAY caught up with
Andrew Kovalev and his wife Tatiana
(contemporary artist working under a
pseudonym Tati S. Titch) during a working visit to Tbilisi.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT
YOUR DEVELOPMENT
I was born in a little town in the north
of Russia. In the 90s my family moved
to Saint Petersburg. After a stint in Moscow, in 2011 I moved to Paris to study
photography and spent four years working for different magazines and ad agencies, as well as doing my personal projects.
I started photography as a hobby in
2006. Bought my first camera, started
taking pictures and over the next two
years it developed into something more
professional. First I got a few jobs at
some local magazines and, after moving
to Moscow in 2008, was already shooting assignments for Forbes. But I realized
then that if I wanted to be a photographer on a higher level I would have to
go abroad to acquire a proper photographic education. In the end I chose
Paris.
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO
PHOTOGRAPH PORTRAITS?
Tatiana: Andrew is a collector. He collects history through people. He collects
faces to save them for the future generations. That is why, for example, he
likes to photograph elderly people —
they have stories, their life experience
on their faces.
Andrew: A friend of mine once told
me there are two approaches to photography. You can take pictures to show all
the horrible things of the world, suffering and ugliness, to make people shud-
HOW WOULD YOU
PHOTOGRAPH HIM, IN COLOR
OR BLACK AND WHITE?
Wow, wow (pauses). I would make a mix
both.
der. Or you can capture the good things
in people and in their everyday lives, to
help them see beauty in them, in those
near them and in the world around.
Tatiana: When we walk along the
streets and see passersby, Andrew tends
to notice extraordinary details in them.
When Andrew looks at a person, he does
so in a loving way, trying to catch this
person’s character and beauty.
HOW DO YOU GET WHAT
YOU WANT FROM YOUR
SUBJECT INTO A PHOTO?
There is no way to always get the result
that you want, because in portrait photography it’s not only about photographer, it’s collaboration between a photographer and a mode and there are
people who would confront the camera.
In general, the main skill of a portrait
photographer is not about camera, light
or composition but the connection
between photographer and his or her
subject.
HOW DO YOU MAKE
THIS CONNECTION?
There are different strategies. The more
practice you get, the more of them you
acquire. It becomes your toolkit, based
on your experience and your intuition.
Some people are afraid of camera, or
might have had bad experience with
photographers in the past, or they might
be distracted by something at the time
of shooting. During such moments you
need to talk to them or give them a role
to play, but it doesn’t always work out
the way I want it to. A very important
part of photographing someone is your
ability to change your strategy when you
see something is not going as planned;
you have to be ready to improvise. But
even then there are people that you just
can’t connect with, due to extreme time
limitation, for example. When a picture
doesn’t show a real person, a real emotion, I settle for simply taking a technically good picture.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE
PHOTOGRAPHER?
That changes all the time. Right now, I
admire Tim Walker.
WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING
HERE IN TBILISI?
I first came here last year on an assignment for the magazine titled Simple
Wine News — to shoot a cover story on
The Askaneli Brothers. That was my first
experience with Georgia. I find it a fascinating country with a lot of creative
potential and amazingly talented people.
We’re working on a series of portraits
called “Tbilisi Fairytales”. Each episode
of this project will represent one Georgian cultural phenomenon, a symbolic
event or a legend, or even a contemporary story related to the country. We
work on that project with the help of
Kartuli Pilmi. The director Khatuna
Khundadze and her team are extremely
supportive. And we are constantly looking to collaborate with local talents. So
if you are a Georgian creative who wants
to become a part of “Tbilisi Fairytales”,
please, feel free to contact us.
They say, when creative from abroad
come to some place with their own
vision, they might become an important
asset for a country, developing and making the local culture stronger. American
filmmaker Thomas Burns, who opened
his post-production studio in Tbilisi
some time ago, is an excellent example
of such an influence. He brought with
him “fresh blood”: new vision and new
energy that helps Georgia’s movie industry grow. People got access to new
knowledge and experience that were
not here before. I believe, that the power
of a creative project multiplies when
an artists from outside gets involved.
Together we are capable of doing great
things.
You can find Andrew’s work and his contacts
at http://ckovalev.com/ or check out his
Instagram: @ckovalev.
Movies for Peace: Georgia Hosts
HWPL Short Film Festival
The HWPL International Law Peace
Committee was established thereafter
and the draft of the international law
was proclaimed within a year. Six months
later, on March 14, 2016, the Declaration
of Peace and Cessation of War was proclaimed.
The Declaration contains a proposal
of answers to religious conflicts and the
spreading of the culture of peace. It urges
for the support of current heads of states.
The declaration is also to be sent to the
President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili.
FOR SALE: BMW – 321 model
Date of issue 1936
PRICE 10.000 USD
CONTACT PERSON 557 12 38 90
14
CULTURE
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
WHAT’S ON IN TBILISI
THEATER
GABRIADZE THEATER
Address: 13 Shavtelis St.
Telephone: 2 98 65 93
June 10, 11
MARSHAL DE FANTIE’S
DIAMOND
Directed by Revaz Gabriadze
English subtitles
Start time: 20:00
Ticket price: 10-30 GEL
June 12, 16
RAMONA
Directed by Rezo Gabriadze
English Subtitles
Start time: 20:00
MOVEMENT THEATER
Address: 182, Aghmashenebeli Ave.,
Mushthaid park
Telephone: 599 555 260
June 10, 11, 12
PERFOMANCE
LABYRINTH
Directed by Kakha Bakuradze
Start time: 19:00
Ticket price: 15 GEL
June 12
ABRACADABRA
Start time: 14:00
June 12
RECITATIVE IN THE CITY
Directed by Kakha Bakuradze
Start time: 21:00
Free Entry
GEORGIAN STATE
PANTOMIME THEATER
Address: 37 Rustaveli Ave.
June 10
DREAM AND REALITY
Directed by Amiran Shalikashvili
Start time: 19:00
TBILISI NODAR DUMBADZE
STATE CENTRAL CHILDREN’S
THEATRE
Address: 99/1 Agmashenebeli Ave.
June 12
KOLOBOK
Directed by Anatoli Lobov
Main Stage
Start time: 12:00
Ticket price: From 6 GEL
SOUTH CAUCASUS
CONTEMPORARY DANCE
FESTIVAL IN TBILISI
Address: 1 Freedom Sq.
www.dancearttbilisi.ge
June 12
TERRA CHA BY NÉLIA
PINHEIRO COMPANHIA DE
DANCA CONTEMPORANEA DE
EVORA
Portugal
Start time: 20:00
Address: Marjanishvili State
Theater, Grand Stage,
8 Marjanishvili Str.
June 13
VERTIGO 20 BY NOA
WERTHEIM,
VERTIGO DANCE COMPANY
Israel
Start time: 19:00
Address: Rustaveli State Theater,
Grand Stage,
17 Rustaveli Ave.
June 14
SOUTH CAUCASUS SHOW CASE
DANCE PERFORMANCES BY
ARMENIAN,
AZERBAIJANIAN AND
GEORGIAN CHOREOGRAPHERS
Irakli Shengelia, Karen
Khachatryan,
Rima Pipoyan, Ara Asaturyan, Akif
Karimli, Sabina Hajiyeva
Start time: 19:00
Address: Rustaveli State Theater,
Experimental Stage,
17 Rustaveli Ave.
CINEMA
AMIRANI CINEMA
Address: 36 Kostava St.
www.kinoafisha.ge
Every Wednesday ticket price: 5 Lari
June 10-16
WARCRAFT
Directed by Duncan Jones
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton,
Callan Mulvey
Language: Russian
Start time: 22:15
MONEY MONSTER
Directed by Jodie Foster
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast: George Clooney, Julia
Roberts, Jack O’Connell
Language: Russian
Start time: 22:00
NOW YOU SEE ME 2
Directed by Jon M. Chu
Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo,
Woody Harrelson
Language: English
Start time: 19:30
Language: Russian
Start time: 17:00, 22:15
A BIGGER SPLASH
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Matthias
Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes
Language: Russian
Start time: 19:15
RUSTAVELI CINEMA
www.kinoafisha.ge
Every Wednesday ticket price: 5 Lari
June 10-16
NOW YOU SEE ME 2
(Info Above)
Start time: 17:00, 22:15
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA
TURTLES: OUT OF THE
SHADOWS
Directed by Dave Green
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Tyler
Perry
Language: Russian
Start time: 12:00, 14:45, 17:00, 19:45, 22:30
MONEY MONSTER
(Info Above)
Start time: 19:45, 22:15
WARCRAFT
(Info Above)
Start time: 22:15
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
Directed by Bryan Singer
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael
Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
Language: Russian
Start time: 22:00
MUSEUM
June 8-20
SOPO CHERKEZISHVILI’S
EXHIBITION
NOT WAITING FOR YOU
GALLERY
GEORGIAN NATIONAL
MUSEUM
SIMON JANASHIA MUSEUM
Telephone: 2 99 80 22, 2 93 48 21
www.museum.ge
PERMANENT EXHIBITION:
GEORGIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
FROM 8TH MILLENNIUM B.C.
TO 4TH CENTURY A.D
THE CAUCASUS NATURAL
HISTORY MUSEUM
COLLECTION RENEWED
EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION OF GEORGIAN
WEAPONRY
NUMISMATIC TREASURY
The exhibition showcases a long
history of money circulation on the
territory of modern Georgia from
the 6th century BC. to 1834.
MUSEUM OF SOVIET
OCCUPATION
Address: 3 Sh. Rustaveli Ave.
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
Here, visitors can discover the
State’s personal files of “subversive”
Georgian public figures, orders to
shoot or exile, and other artifacts
representing Soviet-era cultural
and political repression in Georgia.
The exhibition hall is equipped
with monitors on which visitors
can watch documentaries of
various historical events.
SHALVA AMIRANASHVILI
MUSEUM OF ART
Address: 1 Lado Gudiashvili St.
www.museum.ge
May 18 – July 18
AVANT-GARDE 1900-1937
The exhibition is opened within the
Georgian National Museum week
dedicated to International Museum Day.
GEORGIAN GIORGI
LEONIDZE STATE MUSEUM
OF GEORGIAN LITERATURE
Address: 8 G. Chanturia St.
Telephone: 2 99 86 67, 2 93 28 90
www.literaturemuseum.ge
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
www.museum.ge
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
Niko Pirosmanashvili, David
Kakabadze, Lado Gudiashvili and
sculptor Iakob Nikoladze
May 17 – June 22
KETEVAN MAGALASHVILI – 120
Exhibition is dedicated to the
120th anniversary of Ketevan
Magalashvili - remarkable
representative of Georgian art.
MUSIC
TBILISI OPERA AND BALLET
THEATER
June 15
FUND IAVNANA’S CHARITY
CONCERT
FOR LOVE
Participants: Nino Surguladze, Nino
Ananiashvili
Conductor: Carlo Ponti
Honored Guest: Sophia Loren
Start time: 19:00
Ticket price: From 60 GEL
Charity Fund: 0901 900 999
TBILISI EVENT HALL
Address: 1 Melikishvili Ave.
June 11
MAX KORZH
Start time: 21:00
TBILISI CONCERT HALL
Address: 1 Melikishvili St.
June 11
OMAR KHUBAEVI EVENING
AND STAR OPENING
Start time: 19:00
June 14
“MAN SAN KAN”
CLUB OF THE MERRY AND
INVENTIVE
Comedy Festival
Start time: 18:20
LOUNGE-BAR “FUNICULAR”
Address: Mtatsminda Park
June 10
TERRACE OPENING PARTY
DJ MISHO URUSHADZE
GEORGIAN BAND ‘NIUTONE’
Start time: 20:30
MOVEMENT THEATER
Address: 182, Aghmashenebeli Ave.,
Mushthaid park
June 14, 16
JAM SESSION
WITH THE RESO KIKNADZE
QUINTET
Start time: 21:00
Free entry
June 15
TANGO MILONGA
Start time: 20:00
Tango Lesson: 5 GEL
7TH CAUCASUS JAZZ
FESTIVAL
Telephone: 593 22 42 86
www.kavkazjazz.com
11 June
ARTE MUSIC GROUP/IRAN
STUMREBI/GEORGIA
MIQAYEL VOSKANYAN &
FRIENDS BAND/ARMENIA
Start time: 10:00
Venue: Rabati Fortress, Akhaltsikhe
SPORTS
GEORGIA TODAY
JUNE 10 - 13, 2016
15
Georgia Shock Reigning European
Champions Spain with “Unbelievable” Victory
BY ALASTAIR WATT
A
first-half goal from Tornike
Okriashvili proved sufficient to give Georgia an
unfathomable 1-0 win over
Spain at the Coliseum
Alfonso Perez in the suburbs of Madrid
on June 7.
Ranked 137th in the world, a full 131
places below their illustrious and medalladen opponents, Georgia pulled off one
of the greatest sporting results in its history, and, regardless of this not being a
competitive fixture, surely the best ever
result for the national football team.
Many observers had indeed expected a
historic night, but not for positive reasons.
Friday’s embarrassing 5-1 demolition at the
hands of Romania was widely felt as a new
low for Georgian football, and the prospect
of a fearsome Spanish side four days later
prompted fears of a severe losing margin,
perhaps surpassing the record 6-1 reverse
at the hands of Denmark in 2005.
But under-fire head coach Vladimir
Weiss, only three months in the job and
who later described the result as “unbelievable”, and his much criticized men,
had other ideas.
Playing with what at times appeared
to be a 9-0-1 formation, Georgia soaked
up what was a manageable amount of
Spanish pressure. Aritz Aduriz headed
narrowly wide of target before Thiago
struck the inside if Nukri Revishvili’s
post as an erstwhile pedestrian Spain
began to properly threaten as the half-
hour mark ticked by.
By this stage, Georgia’s flurries forward
had been rare and without consequence
as striker Lado Dvalishvili trotted a lonesome figure in the center circle.
Then suddenly, with five minutes until
half-time, Spain sloppily conceded possession on the halfway line. Valeri Kazaishvili strode forward to the edge of the
Spanish box and just when he was being
thwarted, Jaba Jigauri took over to slide
the ball across for Okriashvili to tap in
for an inconceivable opener.
The home players glanced to the Icelandic assistant referee in search of an
offside flag which, correctly, did not
materialize.
Georgia had to endure an onslaught of
pressure in the second-half, spearheaded
by Andres Iniesta, the Barcelona playmaker one of four half-time switches.
The visitors were even forced into playing third-choice goalkeeper Roin Kvaskhvadze for the last 40 minutes after Revishvili suffered a bruising head knock
courtesy of Sergio Busquets.
Gerard Pique headed wide, Nolito’s
shot whisked by the Georgian post and
then Jordi Alba failed to connect with a
volley from a few meters as the home
side neared a humiliation of their own.
Georgia, often maligned for a shortage
of fitness and subsequent concession of
late goals, actually improved as the game
wore on. Indeed, when the opportunity
allowed, they broke with a swagger in
the closing stages, with a nonchalant
backheel by substitute Giorgi Chanturia
characteristic of a newly found confidence in Weiss’ side.
PUBLISHER & GM
George Sharashidze
COMMERCIAL
DEPARTMENT
Commercial Director:
Iva Merabishvili
Marketing Manager:
Mako Burduli
GEORGIA TODAY
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT:
Editor-In-Chief:
Katie Ruth Davies
Despite their 76% possession and 11
corners to Georgia’s 0, Spain could not
find a way through as the Georgians held
on for an historic victory, the like of
which Georgian fans have been waiting
for several years.
Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea
afterwards stated that, “We made one
mistake and Georgia took advantage of
it, otherwise our opponents did nothing
special.”
Spain have less than a week to sort
themselves out for their European Championship opener against the Czech
Republic. But for Georgia, there is a
whole summer to bask in this triumph
and to forget what went before against
Romania and a few others.
Head coach Weiss had failed to win
any of three previous matches as Georgia’s new head coach, and so was understandably thrilled.
The Slovakian noted: “It was an unexpected and unbelievable outcome. After
losing the last two matches, Georgia
needed this victory which will give us
strength and confidence. We are not a
high level team but what we achieved
tonight gives us great joy.”
The World Cup qualifying campaign
starts against Austria in Tbilisi in September and reaching Russia 2018 remains
a distant dream. However, this remarkable conquest should at least put a few
thousand more on the gate at Dinamo
Arena which, the Super Cup, rugby and
Robbie Williams aside, has too often
been a depressing swathe of empty seats
in recent times.
CULTURE
Monsoon 5: A little Less Sugar, A Little More Cover, Yes Please
not even an encore, leaving the crowds
to run (or swim) for the exits, heading to
the main roads along unfinished muddy
wet paths in the vain search for taxis to
take them home. And the fact that so
many people had come from abroad and
around the country just to attend, filling
trians, minibuses and cars to make it, only
added to the overall feeling of “Good, but
could have, should have, been better.”
I can’t help but think of Maroon 5 now
cozy in a hotel room or on their way to
the next- perhaps drier and better prepared- destination, and us Georgians,
sneezing as we try to get dry and warm
after a three hour plus stand out in the
cold rain.
Journalists:
Tony Hanmer, Tamar Svanidze,
Zviad Adzinbaia, Beqa
Kirtava, Meri Taliashvili, Eka
Karsaulidze, Zaza Jgarkava,
Maka Bibilashvili, Karen
Tovmasyan, Dimitri
Dolaberidze, Maka
Lomadze, Tim Ogden,
Ana Akhalaia, Robert Isaf,
Joseph Larsen, Will Cathcart,
Vazha Tavberidze, Nugzar B.
Ruhadze
Dear ‘Check in Georgia’ organizers- the
initiative, as ever, is fantastic. But think
before you buy. An open-air concert for
huge international stars in typically rainy
Photographer:
Zviad Nikolaishvili
Layout:
Misha Mchedlishvili
Webmaster:
Sergey Gevenov
Circulation Managers:
David Kerdikashvili,
David Djandjgava
Batumi is not the most intelligent or costeffective choice you could make and cannot be compensated for, regardless of
how good the music is...
ADDRESS
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Tel.: +995 32 229 59 19
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all material. Rights of authors
are preserved. The newspaper
is registered in Mtatsminda
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Reg. # 06/4-309

ONE YEAR ON - Georgia Today

Transcription

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