borderlands: the frontier between east and westbloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thechart... ·...

Borderlands: The FronTier BeTween easT and wesT

2015 MccaleB iniTiaTive For Peace

theChartocToBer 23, 2015

Former Soviet State StruggleS For new identity

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 20152

Holly LoncarichChart Correspondent

Georgia is a small country nestled between the Black and Caspian Seas. Russia borders the northern border while Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbai-jan border the South. Despite Geor-gia’s geographical location in what is decidedly Western Asia, it is diicult to recognize Georgia as a country with what one would expect to be the character of its neighbors.

Turkey is known for its Middle East-ern lair and has traditionally been considered to be the breaking point between Europe and Asia. Azerbaijan is one of the world’s oil power houses and Armenia also its into what one would perceive to be a Western Asian culture. While Georgia was once a part of the Soviet Union, many Geor-gians would vehemently deny any similarities between their own culture and the culture of their not so friendly Northern neighbors.

This leaves Georgia in an interesting position. Although the country has a strong relationship with its southern Asian neighbors, there is still a signii-cant diference between the cultures of Georgia and its neighbors.

This is most clearly exhibited in Georgia’s religious culture. Nearly the entire population identiies them-selves as Orthodox Christian, a stark contrast to the bordering regions that predominantly identify as Mus-lim. Although a small population of Muslims does exist in Georgia, these individuals don’t have signiicant inluence in Georgian society or in government.

Georgian’s loyalty to their faith is unique. The most trusted man in Georgia is not a political igure or celebrity. The most trusted person in Georgia is the country’s orthodox pa-triarch, Illia II. Despite the country’s geographical location, the average Georgian identiies as European and not as Western Asian. The architecture of the cities mimics European styles. Georgians strongly wish to build relationships with the West and don’t

seem as interested in looking towards trade opportunities in the East. The country desperately wants to build trade relationships with the Euro-pean Union, countries that Georgians identify with on both economic and cultural perspectives.

A closer relationship with the West is viewed as the road to Georgia’s economic recovery. Despite overcom-ing vast economic, political, and social challenges after the country broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991, the economy has stagnated and the Georgian Lari has depreciated nearly 30 percent since the fall of 2014. Un-employment rates are high and some Georgians are beginning to lose hope in their bid to become closer to the West.

Talks between the EU and Georgia have been in process for some time and some Georgians have grown tired of waiting on help from the EU

and NATO. Georgia’s attempt to join NATO has also been met with some resistance from member countries. Georgian’s attempt to establish a Membership Action Plan, or MAP, for NATO membership was met with a counter proposal spearheaded by Germany and France. This plan has slight variations from the traditional MAP plan but Georgia is optimistic that it will lead to eventual member-ship into NATO. During the next year, Georgians also hope to achieve visa free travel to the EU. If Georgia can achieve this, it will allow citizens to more freely travel throughout Europe and help the county build a stronger relationship with the West. However, this goal has been met with some opposition. Some European countries feel that allowing visa free travel would result in an inlux of Georgians attempting to immigrate to Western Europe where the standard of living is

higher and pay is better. Despite receiving the occasional

cold shoulder from the EU, Geor-gians still remain conident that their country will one day be a member of the EU. The country has continued to develop and maintain closer relation-ships with the European Union and NATO. Although the country is geo-graphically located in Asia, Georgians relate much more closely to Europe. The coordinator for the EU-Georgia Business Council located in the capital city of Tbilisi, is conident that Geor-gia will be successful in its pursuit of eventual EU membership. Georgia’s physical location is just a minor detail.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is what you want, and we want to be a part of Europe.” he said. ”Georgians may not be able to choose where they are, but they certainly can choose who they are and for Georgians, this means European.”

Asia versus Europe: Georgia experiences identity crisis

http://georgia.travel/lifestyle9-includes-georgia-in-top-10-safest-countries-to-live-in-the-world/

Nestled between Russia and the countries of Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Georgia inds itself torn between the European and Asian continents and experiencing an identity crisis.

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 2015 3


Despite being controlled by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union for over 200 years, Georgians still irmly held onto their national identity. Years of oppression by the USSR only inspired the Georgians to denounce their relationship with the Soviet Union.

Many Georgians do not think fondly of the country that lies to the north. The tensions between these two states continued to grow until they boiled over in 2008 when Russia supported two breakaway regions in the North-ern region of Georgia. Georgia and Russia oicially declared war on Aug. 8 over the two terri-tories. In a matter of a few days, Russian forces overwhelmed the country and split Georgia in half. The major highway that connected East and West Georgia was closed and Russian troops entered the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Roman Tusheti, a resident of Tbilisi during the war in 2008, re-called the events that took place during the short war.

“The streets of Tbilisi were

completely deserted. No one left their houses for many days,” he said. Thinking of the currently bustling city streets of Tbilisi as deserted was especially dii-cult for me to imagine. Russian troops raided and burned homes and many people lost everything they owned during the war.

“My son was born during the war and while we were at the hospital the couple next to us was crying,” Tusheti recalled.

“Even though they were happy about the birth of their own son, they were crying be-cause at their home, everything was burning. They had no home now.”

Russian aid allowed the break-away regions to completely cut relations with Tbilisi. Still today, South Ossetia and Abkazia are outside the control of Georgia. This breakaway resulted in the loss of over 20 percent of Geor-gian Territory and the displace-ment of over 400,000 citizens.

Despite Georgia’s tense rela-tionship with Russia, the country still relies on Russia for economic survival. Russia is Georgia’s big-gest trading partner and as a re-sult, the country relies heavily on Russian investment and trade.

Georgia knows that one simple action on Russia’s part can send Georgia’s economy spiraling into a recession. Despite Georgia’s tense relationship with Russia, the country relies on Russia for exports, imports, and tourism.

However, Georgians are not content to be victims of the whims of Russian economic and foreign policy. Despite Russia’s threats of severing trade ties with Georgia, the country is still determined to develop closer ties with the West by joining the European Union and becoming members of NATO. Some Geor-gians believe that this may be the country’s last hope. They believe that the relationship with Russia in unsalvageable. Georgia has much to ofer the West and mem-bership in NATO is required if the country hopes to stay out of the control of Russia.

Recent events in the Ukraine have only strengthened Geor-gia’s resolve to become closer to the EU and NATO. Georgians see many similarities between what is happening in the Ukraine now and what hap-pened to Georgia in 2008.

Strained relations: Georgia’s fight for own identity

See RELATIONS Page 10

Chris Moos | Contributor

ABOVE: As a unintentional symbol of Georgia’s separation from Russia and the Soviet Union, the Soviet hammer and

sickle that once adorned the bust of Russian author Alexander

Pushkin have been replaced with a harp.TOP RIGHT: Merchants display their wares at the dry goods street lea market in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Holly Loncarich Chart Correspondent

We interviewed several diferent people during our travels in Georgia. Throughout the interviews, regard-less of whether it was individuals representing religious organizations, NGOs, or people we met on the street,

I came to admire the Geor-

gian people’s continued optimism. Georgia’s relationship develop-

ment with both the European Union and NATO has not been an easy path. Some country members feel that Georgia would be a poor it or that the country has little to ofer in terms of trade or security.

However, the Georgian people are still very conident that closer relation-ships with the EU and NATO are a

distinct possibility. For Geor-

gia, it is very important that the rela-tionships are established. Membership or closer cooperation with the EU is vital for the country’s continued eco-nomic growth and success. If Georgia can establish trade agreements with the EU, it would exponentially in-crease Georgia’s potential export mar-ket. Furthermore, trade agreements would make European products more afordable for Georgians.

The Georgian economy has sufered greatly in the last several years as

a direct result of economic problems in Georgia’s three largest export trade partners, Russia, Ukraine, and Greece. If Georgia can successfully establish a free trade agreement with the EU, it would greatly diversify the country’s export market and make the country less vulnerable to economic issues that stem from weakening export markets.

Another key initiative for develop-ing stronger relationships with the EU is the establishment of visa-free travel with the EU. Currently, Geor-gians must pay signiicant visa fees

in order to travel in the EU. These


Looking West: Georgia on path to European Union


The original Georgian Parliament building — now an exhibition hall and one of only four buildings in Georgia that still displays the Soviet symbol — hosts a meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

See UNION Page 10

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 2015 5

: Scenes from Georgia

Photos by Chris Moos and Carina Gutierrez


Maintaining religious roots


During our visit to Georgia, we visited many beautiful places. However, nothing can compare to the religious sites scattered across the country. Georgia was a hotbed of early Christianity and many of these ancient sites still exist today in good condition. From the caves of David Gareja to the grand Sameba cathedral in Tbilisi, it becomes clear that Orthodoxy is as much a part of Georgia as the magniicent rivers, moun-tains, and valleys that make up the country. Near the begin-ning of our trip, we visited a cathedral located in Mksheta. On the outside, it was outstand-ing. The cathedral stood high above the surrounding build-ings and was surrounded by a walled courtyard. We visited the church on St. Andrew’s day, a popular holiday in the country, and the courtyard surrounding the church was bustling with activity.

I had the chance to visit many marvelous churches during a study-abroad trip to Italy in the preceding summer and I anticipated that a church so pretty on the outside would be even more breathtaking on the inside. However, I was surprised to ind that the church was quite plain on the inside. Although the architecture inside the church was every bit as amazing as the exterior indicated, the walls and ceilings were white and the only decorations on the walls were a few paintings and tapestries. As our guide showed us around the church he explained why the walls were so plain.

“When the Russians took back Georgia, they did not want religion so they went into our churches and whitewashed the walls. They turned the churches into museums, storage places, and other things.” He explained that Georgian Orthodox church-es were once covered in elabo-rate murals depicting important events in Christian and Geor-gian history. The cathedral we were visiting that day had once housed murals that dated to the 12th century. Sadly, only bits and pieces of two diferent murals in the church could be seen through the white paint.

The Soviet Union did not want its citizens to practice religion and repurposed many churches throughout the country. These churches became museums, meeting halls, and even armor-ies. Although religion was sup-pressed, many Georgians contin-ued to practice Orthodoxy and the religion survived through the Soviet occupation.

By the time Georgia declared independence in 1991, very few Georgian Orthodox churches survived in Tbilisi. However, many Georgians were still Or-thodox and they were eager to reestablish the repurposed build-ings as churches. The number of churches continued to grow in the years following the country’s independence and the people’s faith grew stronger as well.

Georgia’s faith is one of the key characteristics of the coun-try. Today, the vast majority of Georgians identify as Orthodox and the church plays an im-portant role in daily life. As the country went through several

Georgia reclaims ancient churches after independence


Missouri Southern students Carina Gutierrez and Holly Loncarich pose for a photo in front of Sama-

mba Cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia.See RELIGIOUS Page 10

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 2015 7


In 2008, Georgia and Russia had a short war over disputed territories located in northern Georgia. These regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, had declared themselves separate from Georgia since the country became independent in 1991. Russia recognized both of these regions as independent from Georgia and had even issued Russian passports to many of the citizens. How-ever, Georgia still maintained that the two regions are a part of Georgia. Many Georgians refuse to use the name South Ossetia, preferring to use the historic Georgian name of Samachablo or the Tskhinvali Region.

Leading up to the war, ten-sions between Georgia and the breakaway regions continued to rise as Georgia’s relation-ship with Russia deteriorated. Russia granted passports to many citizens of South Ossetia and continued to support the region both economically and militarily. When ighting broke out in South Ossetia in early August, both Georgian and Russian peacekeepers moved into the area. As Georgian troops worked to push back the Ossetian Separatists, Rus-sia accused Georgian troops of harming Russian citizens and responded by launching a full scale invasion of Georgia. During this short war, Rus-sian forces pushed Georgian soldiers out of South Ossetia and into undisputed Georgian territory. By the end of the war, Russian forces had raided Georgian military bases and had occupied several Georgian cities including Poti, Gori, Senaki, and Zugdidi.

Russian troops gradually

withdrew from undisputed territory, but Russia pledged to continue to station troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in order to protect the Russian citizens that lived there. With the backing of Russia, South Ossetians performed an ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians and forced entire villages to relocate south to undisputed areas. At its height, 220,000 civilians left their homes in order to avoid the war. Some of these civilians traveled to North Ossetia (part of Rus-sia) and others traveled south into Georgia. Many Georgian villages located in the southern half of the disputed territory were completely destroyed. This prevented 20,000 Geor-gians living in South Ossetia from returning home after the

war. These individuals still live in refugee camps between Tbilisi and Gori.

On our way to Gori, we trav-eled by one of these camps. Our driver stopped outside of the camp so that we could get a closer look. It was a small community of about 60 one room houses placed in neat rows. There were several small gardens and a few animals roaming around in makeshift pens. Although this communi-ty housed as many as 300 peo-ple, it was eerily quiet outside and I only caught glimpses of a few residents as they quickly tended their animals or garden before going back inside their houses.

Our driver explained that this community was made up of citizens from a Georgian

village that was once located in the southern region of South Ossetia.

“They came here during the war and they cannot go back because there is nothing left for them,” he said as we looked at the small commu-nity. He explained that many of the people in the village were caught in a limbo. They had nothing and relied heavily on the Georgian government to provide them with enough to survive on. At the same time, many of these people did not have passports and had no way of leaving these displaced persons housing develop-ments.

Life for Georgian refugees has been very diicult. Unem-ployment is high and they re-ceive limited support from the

Georgian government. Many of the housing developments appear to be miles from the nearest Georgian city which makes it even more diicult for these refugees to travel and purchase necessities. During our visit to the displaced per-sons village, we only saw one station wagon. Even though the car appeared to be in rough shape, it was piled high with scrap metal.

“These houses were sup-posed to be temporary. These people want to go home, but it has been seven years and they are still here. I think they [the houses] are permanent, but they still hope to go home one day,” our guide ofered solemnly as we left the small housing development to con-tinue on to Gori.

Displaced: 20,000 left homeless after war


A settlement built by the Georgian government houses displaced individuals left homeless after a war between Georgia and Russia broke out in 2008. Nearly 20,000 people still live in refugee settlements like this between Tbilisi and Gori, Georgia.


While we were in Batumi, I had the opportunity to give a presentation to students about college life in the United States for a program called American Corners.

This program sponsored by the US Embassy reaches out to youth across Georgia to educate them about American culture. The American Corners are set up in libraries across the coun-try and are stocked up with books, movies, and other US culture centric materials.

Our contact, Jessica Preston, was a Fulbright scholar teach-ing English in Batumi. Over the course of her time in Georgia, she had orchestrated many of the American Corner presenta-tions at the Batumi location. The evening before we were to give a presentation, she took us out to dinner and told us many stories about her own experi-ences in Georgia and spoke highly of the students she worked with.

Our American Corner presen-tation was at the American Cor-ner site in Batumi which is one of the most active American Corner chapters in the country. Although I wasn’t sure about what to expect at the presenta-tion, this ended up being one of the high lights of my time in Georgia. Although I knew that we would be presenting to a group of high school kids about college life in the United States, I wasn’t sure about what to expect from the students. From my own experience, I knew how diicult it is to keep the attention and interest of high school students.

While we waited for the stu-dents to arrive for the Ameri-can Corners, I was surprised to see the room ill to capacity very quickly. In fact, so many

students showed up that there weren’t enough seats for every-one and a few students had to stand and watch from the back. It was clear to me that the stu-dents were very excited about the presentation and they were very interested in the presenta-tion.

As soon as we started talking, the room full of students quick-ly quieted down and listened intently to what we had to say. At the presentation, many of them had questions about col-lege life and what it was like to live in the United States. Al-though most of these students were still a year or two away from high school graduation, they inquired about what class-es were good to take to prepare for college in the US and what extracurricular activities looked best on a college application. I was very surprised and im-pressed with how dedicated the students were to their educa-tion. As a high school student, I never gave much thought to college applications until my

senior year and I know many of my American classmates did the same.

After the presentation was over and some of the attendees began iling out of the library, I was approached by several students who wanted to ask me a few more questions about college life. Although some of the questions were further in-quiries about college life in the US, many of the questions were about US culture.

Before traveling to Georgia, I had never realized how much inluence US pop culture has over the rest of the world. A group of girls, giggling and chattering excitedly amongst themselves, asked me if I had ever met Kim Kardashian! They were quite disappointed to ind out that I had never met a celebrity that they recognized from TV.

Shortly before leaving the library, three of the girls asked us if we would like to go out to dinner with them the next night. We happily accepted

their ofer. The girls were very excited and we made plans for them to meet us at the library the next day.

Georgian food is one of the best cuisines I have ever tried and I was looking forward to the opportunity of eating din-ner with locals who knew the best food to order. I was also excited to learn more about them and what it was like to live in Georgia.

The next evening, we met at the library and the girls took us to a traditional Georgian restaurant. Since the menu was in Georgian, they ofered to order for us and we grate-fully accepted. After giving the waitress our order, we picked up with our conversation from yesterday. Not unlike high school girls in the US, we dis-cussed our favorite movies and celebrity crushes. We talked about things we did for fun and favorite music.

I also had the chance to ask them more about their culture. I was impressed to hear that

each of them knew three lan-guages. When we talked about religion, they were surprised to hear about all of the dif-ferent religions in the United States. In Georgia, they were only familiar with Muslims and Orthodox Christians and they were interested to hear about the diferent religions found in the United States.

Shortly after ordering, the waitress began bringing out platters of food. We tried tradi-tional kinkali, a large dumpling illed with meat and spices, and two types of Georgian “piz-zas”. These were lat, stufed pastries that tasted absolutely amazing. One had a bean iling and the other was illed with cheese. The girls also ordered us Georgian lemonade. Geor-gian lemonade was one of my favorite things about the coun-try. It is a lavored carbonated beverage that is probably clos-est to lavored sparkling water found here in the US. However, this comparison doesn’t do the drink justice because Georgian lemonade tastes much better than any sparkling lavored water I have had in the States. My favorite lavor was pear, but the beverage also came in many diferent lavors includ-ing tarragon, cream, lemon, and apple.

Presenting at American Cor-ners is one of my best memories about my time in Georgia. It was truly inspiring to meet all of the students who were deter-mined to continue their educa-tion in the United States. Even though we came from diferent cultures, it was still pretty easy to relate with much of what the students had to say about school and their career aspira-tions. I made many friends while I was in Batumi and I look forward to meeting many of them again when they come to study in the United States.


American Corners presents ‘US college life’ for Georgian high schoolers


Missouri Southern students Holly Loncarich and Carina Gutierrez speak with Georgian high school students after giving an American Corners presentation about college life in the US.

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 2015 9


While visiting Georgia, I was interested to learn about the country’s education sys-tem and how readily avail-able education is to students who want to pursue it. After the Rose Revolution, Georgia more aggressively pursued improving the country’s education structure. Teaching salaries were increased and the government bookmarked more resources for schools. Education standards and attendance rates continued to increase as the country devoted more resources to educating its youth.

Not surprisingly, the educa-tion system faltered after the war in 2008. Many school buildings were destroyed and some of the buildings were repurposed to house refugees in the months after the war. The Georgian government had to focus on repairing and replacing damaged infra-structure instead of educa-tion. However, in the years after the war, educational systems have again continued to improve.

The average Georgian student attends class from around 9 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon. Like the US, the vast majority of schools are public schools and education is provided at no charge to the student’s family through high school. When the student has com-pleted their high school stud-ies, they take a national exam that more or less determines their future. Students who do well on the exam will have the chance to go to college. Oftentimes, their score will determine which type of college they can apply to.

Students who go to a public “state” university can expect to pay around GEL 2,500 (USD $1,000) in tuition each year.

While traveling through the country, we saw a lot of uni-versities that catered to difer-ent career paths not unlike what you would ind here in the US. There were state uni-versities along with the more specialized vocational and technology schools. I was also excited to see that Georgia has caught the attention of schools in the United States.

San Diego State University recently opened a satellite campus in Tbilisi. Many

people I spoke with were excited about the potential of young Georgians gaining an accredited degree from a US university. Valerian, a repre-sentative of the EU-Georgia Business Council, told us that a degree like this would make it easier for Georgians to obtain jobs abroad.

“Potential employers are much more likely to hire a Georgian with a degree from the United States because they will recognize that college more easily than they would a degree from a Georgian University,” he explained.

Currently, San Diego State

ofers degrees in technical ields such as computer sci-ence, computer engineering, and chemistry. Although there are many potential students in Georgia who are interested in going to this school, it may be challeng-ing for them to attend. The college charges $7,500 a year in tuition. Although this may sound surprisingly afordable by American standards, it is very costly by Georgian stan-dards. The sharp depreciation of the Lari against the US dollar has also made it more challenging to aford educa-tion from a US university. In order to ofset the inan-

cial strain that this causes, the university ofers tuition waivers and scholarships to Georgian students.

Georgians greatly value education and the investment in human capital and educa-tion quality in the country has continued to climb. Although San Diego State is the irst foreign university to recognize potential in the country, it will not be the last. As Georgia continues to grow and become a bigger economic player in the Cau-casus region, more Georgians will have the opportunity to pursue higher education and better their lives.


Carina Gutierrez and Holly Loncarich eat dinner with Georgian high school students with the American Corners educational program.

Students struggle with Georgian education system

visa fees are cost-prohibitive and can deter Georgians from visiting the EU. Visa free travel would allow Georgians to move freely to the EU and could even allow them to pursue employment outside of the country.

Visa-free travel would also serve as an incentive for Geor-gian residents in the break-away region of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to get Georgian passports instead of Rus-sian passports. Finally, more favorable travel policies with

the EU will allow displaced refugees the opportunity to travel outside the country.

Georgians hope that the introduction of visa-free travel for its citizens will lead to further economic integration with the EU including even-tual membership which is the main goal of the country.

During the last day of our trip there was a European Union meeting in Latvia that included speciic discus-sions and review of the EU’s position on visa free travel for

Georgians. Nearly everyone we spoke with in Georgia was hopeful of some type of positive action from this meeting, The Latvian Prime Minister did announce after the meeting that Georgia (and Ukraine) could achieve a visa-free travel agreement in 2016 with the EU if certain conditions were met by the end of 2015. While it was not the certain response that most Georgians hoped for, it was a positive indication and encouragement for further Georgian-EU relations.

Georgia has also pursued a relationship with NATO, the

North Atlantic Treaty Organi-zation. Georgia has been very active in NATO backed initia-tives and is the second high-est troop providing nation in Afghanistan. Despite this, Georgia is still not a member of NATO.

Georgians are very interest-ed in joining NATO because of the country’s unstable and precarious relationship with Russia. If Georgia is NATO backed, then this would make the Russians think twice be-fore pressures increase. NATO membership would beneit Georgians greatly.

Despite Georgia’s ambition

of joining the EU and NATO, there are still problems faced by the country as it attempts to join these organizations. In terms of both NATO and the EU, the primary argument cited is Gerogia’s geographi-cal location.

Despite a decidedly Euro-pean culture, the country is technically located in western Asia. EU members feel that Georgia does not have the ability to join the EU due to the physical location of the county. NATO member states also point out that Georgia’s location may be diicult to defend.

years of economic hardship and political upheaval, citizens placed more and more faith in their religion.

One Georgian priest related, “The president has failed Geor-gia, the European Union has failed Georgia, but the church has not. The Georgian people know that their faith is the only thing that will not let them down.”

As we walked through the streets of Tbilisi on a Sunday afternoon, it became apparent just how important religion is to the country. We met with an American Orthodox priest serv-ing a small monastery in Tbilisi. Father Joseph had recently relocated to the country and had been at the Blue Monastery since September of 2014. He told us that his small church overlowed on Sundays and that they would often place speakers in the court-yard in order to allow the people who could not it in the church the opportunity to hear what was being said inside.

We attended a Thursday morning service at the Blue Monastery and it was bustling with activity. Murals adorned the walls depicting historical

Georgian Christian events. I was very impressed with the num-ber of attendees on a weekday morning. Father Joseph told us that this was the norm in Geor-gia where as many as 95 percent of Georgians identify themselves as Orthodox. While explain-ing the church’s history, Father Joseph said that the church an armory by the Soviets. When we walked outside, he also pointed out the “layers” of new construction that was visible on the outer walls of the church. Since the church’s completion in the 12th century, the church had been ransacked, burned, and destroyed by diferent invading nations. Near the bottom of the church, the rocks were larger less cleanly hewn. The farther up the building, the more clean cut and “modern” the stones appeared.

Today, one would never know that the religion was sup-pressed in this country just a few decades ago. Although the revival of the church did not hit full swing until the late 1980s, churches are found on nearly ev-ery block and many of them are illed to capacity during worship hours. During this period, many

new churches were built. One of the most famous landmarks in Tbilisi is the Sameba Cathe-dral. This magniicent church was only completed in 2004 and painters are just beginning to paint murals on the walls. The Sameba Cathedral is the larg-est church in Tbilisi and towers majestically over the surround-ing buildings.

Since the Georgia’s incep-tion, religion has been deeply engrained into the county’s culture. Although separation of church and state does exist in Georgia, the church heavily in-luences political outcomes and many Georgians hold religious leaders in higher regard than po-litically elected leaders. During my research of the country, I had read a lot about how impor-tant religion is to the Georgian people. Being from Missouri, a state irmly aixed in America’s “Bible Belt”, I had thought that I had an idea of what to expect when I visited the country. However, I was very surprised to see just how important a role religion plays in this country. It is a culture trait that is difer-ent from what is found in the United States and it certainly attests to the Georgian people’s unity in their community, faith, and country.

FRIDAY, OCT. 23, 201510

Relations: Continued from page 3 Religious : Continued from page 6

Union: Continued from page 4

The West may be the only thing that can stop Russia from continuing to weaken and break apart the post-soviet states. The Georgian National Museum is located in the center of Tbilisi on Rustaveli Street. One of the exhibits is called ‘The museum of Soviet Occupation’, relect-ing the Georgian attitude towards the Soviet Union rule. The exhibit shows the history of the Soviet takeover and rule of Georgia from a very post-Soviet viewpoint. As part of this exhibit, a new special photo exhibit, The Women of Donbas, shows photos of wounded Ukrainian soldiers and women caregivers. In the view of most Georgians there is little diference between their view of the horrors of So-viet occupation, the 2008 war with Russia and the current conlict in Ukraine.

While visiting the Museum, I was surprised to ind that the majority of the exhibits were in both English and Georgian. Likewise, I was surprised to ind that many Georgians, especially those closer to my own age, spoke very good

English. However, Georgians over the age of 30 or so usu-ally spoke Russian in addition to their native tongue. I later found out that after Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991, many schools transitioned into teaching Eng-lish as a second language in-stead of Russian. Today, many young Georgians are much more likely to be proicient in English than in Russian.

Georgia’s relationship with Russia is precarious at best and dangerous at worst. With Russian troops stationed just 35 kilometers north of Tbilisi, Georgians constantly live in fear of another potential war with Russia.

Membership and protection from NATO is important to Georgia but joining the orga-nization is a long and diicult process. Georgians are opti-mistic that NATO members will be receptive to Georgia’s membership but some ques-tion whether or not NATO is likely to accept a country with such stressed ties with not only Russia but also disputed regions within its own bor-ders.

FRIDAY, OCT. 23 , 2015 11


We arrived in Tbilisi just a few days before the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) annual meeting was held in the city. Rustaveli Avenue, the street that hosted many government build-ings, was adorned with EU lags and banners of welcome aimed towards the meeting attendees. The EBRD meeting was held in the ‘old’ Parlia-ment building, one of only four buildings in all of Georgia that still has the Soviet ‘hammer and sickle’ symbol engraved in the façade. Seeing all the prepara-tions for the meeting was very exciting for us and for many of the organizations that we in-terviewed. This meeting would put Georgia on many European investment radars and Foreign Direct Investment is something that the Georgian economy desperately needs.

The European Bank for Re-construction and Development, or EBRD, is an organization that focuses on investing in develop-ing economies and assisting in the transition to market econo-mies. The EBRD achieves this primarily through Financial In-vestment projects such as loans, equity investments, and loan guarantees. The EBRD pays special attention to fostering and developing private sector economies by awarding loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Georgia is particularly deserving of funding from the EBRD. The country is dedi-cated to building a relationship with Europe and although the transition to a market economy has been diicult, the country has continued to persevere and eliminate corruption. In order to meet guidelines for EBRD

assistance, proposed projects must have a good potential for being proitable, have equity contributions from the project sponsor, beneit the economy, and be environmentally respon-sible. If the proposed project is approved, the EBRD will fund up to 35 percent of the project’s cost.

To date, the EBRD has been very active in the country. There are currently 175 active projects in the country and the EBRD has invested nearly 2.3 billion euros since 2008. These projects fall in many diferent industries including energy, transporta-tion, and agribusiness.

Many of our interviewees were very excited about the contributions made by the EBRD to the Georgian economy. Valerian Gvalia , a representa-

tive of the EU-Georgian busi-ness council, made several pre-sentations to the EBRD meeting about what Georgia could ofer to European investors. The EBRD and the government of Georgia announced a new ‘Investor Council’ to work to increase investment in Georgia and address investor obstacles in Georgia. The EU-GBC’s work in Georgia was recognized with their appointment as one of 15 members of the council.

Georgia is strategically placed between the Black Sea the high oil and gas producing Azer-baijan. A pipeline through the country connects Europe to a much needed non-Russian nat-ural gas supplier. Despite this geographic location, transporta-tion and logistics in the country can be diicult. Many roads

are underdeveloped and it is diicult and time consuming to travel through the mountains. However, foreign investment has allowed for great improve-ments to be made and a railway connecting Azerbaijan and Georgia and Turkey is cur-rently underway. This railway will allow for natural gas and other Azerbaijani goods to be transported more quickly and cost efectively to Turkey and the rest of Europe. In addition to freight, the railway will also host passenger trains between the three countries.

Georgia also has much to of-fer as a tourist destination and the country has actively worked to develop tourism. Besides the natural beauty of mountains, plains, and deserts, Georgia is also home to many ancient and

historical archaeological sites. From cave towns to monaster-ies, Georgia is rich in human culture. The tourism industry in Georgia is still in its early stages, but many Georgians see this as a great opportunity to bring in more foreign dollars.

Despite the country’s eco-nomic challenges, Georgia has much to ofer foreign investors. The country has made great strides in infrastructure devel-opment and has many unique goods to ofer European con-sumers. The natural beauty of the country and deep cultural roots also give the country the potential of being a popular tourist destination. Investment from organizations such as the EBRD have allowed Georgia to continue to develop a stronger market based economy.

Foreign interest proves vital to economy


A railroad is constructed across Georgia from the eastern border all the way to the port of Tbilisi as part of an effort to streamline the transportation of natural gas and other Azerbaijani goods throughout Europe.

borderlands: the frontier between east and westbloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thechart... ·...

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