Press Digest 31.12.2014

Eight Georgians arrested in Gali banned from re-entering Abkhazia

Islamic State has around 100 Georgian citizens in its ranks

On December 17th, 8 Georgians were reportedly arrested in the region of Gali. Believe it or not, these people were brought to the police station for to offences they committed in the Abkhazian War of 1992-93.

As Abkhazia’s de-facto government claims, the accused once conspired against their brothers and were involved in military activities against them. On top of that, even after the war was over, these people allegedly remained in Gali and continued providing some illegal military groups and mercenary forces with support and assistance.

“Abkhazian media outlets published a video showing testimony of one of the detained Georgians, in which he admitted to his involvement in the Abkhazian War of 1992-93. Despite their reluctance to name the arrested Georgian citizens, we managed to find out the names of some of them. Guram Butbaia, Sergo Kikalia, Koba Gvadzabia, Merab Khargelia and Zaur Tskhadaia have also been detained in Gali recently,”- reports the Rezonansi newspaper.

“Despite the testimony given by one of the accused, he was released along with other defendants. However, all of them received a permanent sentence banning them from entering Abkhazia ever again.

Similar incidents are commonplace in the region of Gali. Abkhazian separatists have always hunted for Georgians, persecuted, jailed and insulted them. For instance, four days ago, they broke into the Guilskiria family’s home, robbed them and beat Tamaz Guliskiria, head of the family, to death,”- says the article.

“A couple of days ago, Abkhazian law enforcers incarcerated Paata Todua, a citizen of Georgia. The accused is a MIA employee and comes from the region of Ochamchire. As his captors allege, he tried to illegally cross the border. 

As Mamuka Gvadzabia claims, crime and violence are rampant in the region, mainly aimed at Georgians, who are persecuted, pillaged and oppressed at every opportunity. According to him, Georgian politicians turned a deaf ear to Georgians pleas for assistance.

“I am amazed by the government’s reluctance to help the people out in these trying times. The Georgian authorities are as dumb as oysters and are doing next to nothing to lead their people out of hardship. They don’t even care for the region getting purged of Georgians, with the hapless locals being systematically banished from their own houses and homeland.

Don’t you find their move to bring charges against these Georgians now extremely ridiculous? How can a man be arrested for a crime that was committed 25 years ago?

This way or that, once thing is clear; by applying incessant pressure on Georgians, they are simply complying with Khajimba’s directives. The Abkhazian separatists are just trying to label Georgians as bad people,”- concludes the author of the article.

Islamic State has around 100 Georgian citizens in its ranks

The warriors of Islamic State are not going to enter Georgia, but this does not mean that our country is not endangered. The wahhabi movement is extremely active in Georgia as well as entire Caucasus and its followers are rather aggressive. Thus, how can they come to Georgia when they are already here?

This force is ubiquitous and very elusive. They might become a real threat for us as well as the entire region,”- claims expert Mamuka Areshidze in his interview with the Rezonansi publication.

Those Georgian citizens involved with ISIS primarily hail from three regions of Georgia: about 60 or 70 of them are Pankisian Kists, 15 are Azerbaijanis from the Eastern part of the country and 15 more are denizens of Adjara.

I assume that around 100 people in ISIS ranks are from Georgia; however, it is hard to calculate the exact number, since Georgians frequently visit Turkey. It is unknown to me how many of them use it as a transit point to Syria instead of a source of employment.

Claims of Georgians fleeing their homeland and going abroad due to a dark social background are completely baseless. It’s true that some of them once went to Turkey due to a difficult life, but that happened long before. Now the core reason driving them to abandon their homeland is ideology,”- asserts Mr. Areshidze.

We all know that Islamic State is in dire straits today, facing daunting challenges in the regions it is occupying. Consequently, their recently declared intention to wrest Chechnya from Russia’s claws is simply ridiculous.

Despite the islamists’ accomplishments and resounding victories in some regions, they were defeated near the city of Kobani. Even if they manage to best all their enemies, their primary target will remain the northern part of the Middle East, not the Caucasus,”- the expert concludes.