NCSJ - Georgia page

Population: 4.6 million

Ethnic Composition: 83.8% Georgian, 6.5% Azeri, 5.7% Armenian, 1.5% Russian, 2.5% other

Religion: 83.9% Orthodox Christian, 9.9% Muslim, 3.9% Armenian-Gregorian, 0.8% Catholic, 0.8% Other, 0.7% None

Jewish population: 15,000
2009 Aliyah (emigration to Israel): 333
1989-2006 Aliyah: 22,849

Size: 69,700 sq km
Capital: Tbilisi
Major cities: Tbilisi, Poti, Batumi, Sokhumi

Freedom House Rating: Partly Free

Currency: 1.72 lari = $1

GDP: $10.98 billion (2009 est.)
GDP per capita: $4,500 (2009 est.)
GDP Growth: -4.9% (2009 est.)

Head of State: Mikhail Saakashvili

Head of Government:
Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri

Foreign Minister:
Grigol Vashadze

Ambassador to the United States:
Batu Kutelia

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia:
John R. Bass

Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Georgia

SUMMARY

In August 2008, the ongoing conflict between Georgia and the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into war between Russia and Georgia. The conflict continued for five days before a cease-fire agreement was brokered by President Sarkozy of France on behalf of the European Union. The United States has condemned Russia’s actions, and in an effort to support Georgia, is providing a $1 billion economic aid package.

Georgia's post–Soviet history has been turbulent. President Saakashvili faced a major challenge towards the end of 2007 when a one-time ally accused him of corruption and of plotting a murder. The accusations triggered mass demonstrations in Tbilisi demanding elections. The opposition accused him of being authoritarian and not doing enough to alleviate poverty. Saakashvili sent in the riot police, imposed a state of emergency and alleged there was a hidden Russian hand in the unrest. He resigned in November 2007 and was reelected as president in January 2008.

The administration remains pro-Western and progressive. Georgia continues to struggle with the aftermath of ethnic and territorial conflicts and political instability following its 1991 declaration of independence. Georgia’s economy remains weakened by ongoing turmoil and by difficult relations with Russia, although the government is working hard to implement economic and institutional reforms and end corruption. Likewise, Georgia’s participation in the transport of Azeri oil to Western energy markets promises significant new job and investment opportunities.

Russian-Georgian relations are tense and mistrustful, reflecting Russian opposition to Georgia’s newly pro-Western course after the 2003 Rose Revolution and new elections in 2004 brought the current government to power. Main bilateral irritants are Russia’s involvement in internal Georgian conflicts, past Russian allegations of Georgian support for Chechen rebels and more recent Russian economic and trade sanctions against Georgia, mass deportations in 2006 of Georgians working in Russia, and strong Russian opposition to Georgian aspirations to join NATO. Relations with Israel are very cordial, and the government has promoted close trade ties with Israel and better relations with Western Europe. Since its independence, Georgia and the United States have enjoyed a consistently warm relationship.

The Georgian Jewish community, whose history extends back 2,600 years, is active despite high levels of emigration. Interfaith and government relations are good, and there is no tradition of popular or state-sponsored anti-Semitism.

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REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA

INTRODUCTION

POLITICAL SITUATION
    Rose Revolution
    November 2007 Protests
    South Ossetia
    Abkhazia
    Pankisi Gorge
    Domestic Issues

FOREIGN POLICY
    Russia & the Pankisi Gorge
    Western Europe
    Israel

ECONOMIC SITUATION

JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM

U.S. POLICY

Georgia, located in the southern Caucasus, is slightly smaller than South Carolina and occupies a strategic position between Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and the Black Sea. An ancient country, Georgia traditionally has been dominated by stronger neighboring powers, including Rome, Persia, Byzantium, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks. A Christian enclave in a largely Muslim region, Georgia sought Russian protection in the 18th century, and was incorporated piecemeal into the Russian Empire in the early 19th century. Georgia declared independence from the USSR on April 9, 1991, but then suffered prolonged political and economic turbulence and civil strife. Soviet domination and recent Russian policies left a legacy of strong anti-Russian attitudes, reinforced by Russian support for local separatists.

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POLITICAL SITUATION

The Georgian constitution sets a balance of executive and legislative powers that is more equitable than in most of the other successor states. The constitution establishes the Supreme Council (Umaghiesi Sabcho), which is a 235-seat unicameral legislature in which members serve four-year terms, and an independent judiciary. The President, elected every five years by popular vote to a maximum of two terms, wields significant but not unlimited powers as chief of state and head of the state security, interior, and defense ministries. The prime minister heads the remaining ministries. The last presidential election was in January 2008, and parliamentary elections were held in April 2008.

Rose Revolution

Thanks to its strong ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity, Georgia was one of the first Soviet Republics to push for outright independence in the late 1980s, especially following the brutal suppression of a peaceful demonstration in Georgia’s capital by Soviet troops in 1989, killing several protesters. Shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia officially declared its independence in April 1991. Prominent nationalist leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected President in May 1991, but quickly became an erratic and authoritarian ruler; he was overthrown in early 1992 and forced to flee the country after a coup led by pro-opposition military and paramilitary units.

Eduard Shevardnadze, Gorbachev’s former Foreign Minister and former Georgian Communist Party boss, returned to Georgia in 1992 and emerged as de facto president, defeating armed attempts by Gamsakhurdia’s supporters to regain power in 1992 and again in 1993. In 1995, Shevardnadze was elected President of Georgia, and won reelection in 2000, having survived several assassination attempts. His administration was widely criticized for corruption and for Georgia’s lack of economic progress.

The disputed outcome of the November 2003 Parliamentary elections resulted in massive nonviolent anti-government demonstrations in Tbilisi that soon spread throughout Georgia. Shevardnadze contended that his party won, despite claims by local and international observers that Mikheil Saakashvili, the young, pro-Western head of the opposition United National Movement, had won the election. Shevardnadze’s attempt to manipulate the elections results directly led to mass protests known as the Rose Revolution, after the opposition’s use of roses as their symbol.

A massive protest demonstration in Tbilisi in late November 2003 led to the seizure of parliament on its official opening day. The President declared a state of emergency and ordered troop mobilization, but elite military units refused to take action. Shevardnadze agreed to meet with Saakashvili and resigned soon afterwards. New Presidential elections were held in January 2004 and Saakashvili won with a 96 percent majority.

Soon after Saakashvili’s inauguration, tensions increased between Aslan Abashidze, the long serving head of the autonomous region of Adjaria in southern Georgia, and the new central government. Facing mass protests against his separatist and authoritarian policies, Abashidze resigned in May 2004, restoring Tbilisi’s authority over Adjaria.

After Abashdize’s resignation, Saakashvili proposed several plans in 2004 and 2005 to resolve Georgia’s other separatist conflicts and restore central government rule over South Ossetia and Abkhazia while preserving local autonomy. However, separatist authorities refused his initiatives and Georgia’s separatist conflicts remain unresolved, despite continuing and multi-lateral negotiations.

November 2007 Protests

In November 2007, after massive public protests against his presidency Saakashvili announced an early presidential election for January 5, 2008. Saakashvili was reelected outright with around 53 percent of the vote, preventing a second, run-off election. While many in the opposition claimed the elections were manipulated, the international community (except for Russia) declared that the elections complied with basic international standards and were the most competitive in Georgia’s history.

South Ossetia

South Ossetia is a mountainous area directly south of the main Caucasus range. Although part of Georgia, its majority inhabitants are Ossetians, an Iranian ethnic group who also live across the border in Russia. During the Soviet period, South Ossetia was an autonomous region within Georgia where South Ossetians and Georgians generally coexisted peacefully. Inter-ethnic tensions began to increase in the late Soviet era, as nationalist movements emerged in both communities.

In November 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Court voted to unite South Ossetia with North Ossetia, its Russian counterpart. In response, the Georgian Parliament revoked the decision, abolished South Ossetia’s autonomy, and suppressed local media and demonstrations.

Open warfare erupted in late 1991 between Georgian and South Ossetian forces, resulting in around one thousand fatalities and the displacement of 60,000 to 100,000 refugees.

In 1992, Georgia was forced to accept a cease-fire in order to avoid conflict with Russia, the Ossetians’ traditional protector. Georgia and South Ossetia agreed to avoid the use of force against one another and Georgia pledged to remove trade sanctions from South Ossetia. Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia created a peacekeeping force to supervise the area. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) also created a mission to monitor the peace in South Ossetia. Since then, South Ossetia has emerged as a de facto but unrecognized mini-state outside of central Georgian control and with increasingly close ties to Russia.

Tensions rose again in 2004 after President Saakashvili’s inauguration, leading to fresh outbreaks of violence and a new cease-fire agreement. Relations are currently tense, with occasional violent incidents.

Following his 2004 election, Saakashvili repeatedly offered the South Ossetian government autonomy within Georgia, but was refused, despite European and American support for his peace plans. Instead, current South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, elected in 2001, has vowed to press for the region’s complete sovereignty and for closer ties with Russia. Russia, which backs the South Ossetian independence movement, has made it easy for South Ossetians to obtain Russian passports. However, the porous border between Georgian South Ossetia and Russian North Ossetia has facilitated smuggling, including alleged shipments of Russian weapons to South Ossetia.

South Ossetian authorities held a referendum in November 2006, which, as expected, favored independence, but, which was not recognized internationally, in part due to the exclusion of ethnic Georgian residents from the voting. Georgia has continued to press for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops from South Ossetia, which are widely viewed as supporting the separatist authorities and preventing the reestablishment of Tbilisi’s control over the breakaway region. In 2006, President Saakashvili promoted an alternative South Ossetian administration of loyalist Georgians, which elected its own de facto president, also in November 2006. The international community does not recognize either South Ossetian administration.

In August 2008, Russia recognized the region as independent, however, has not agreed to any effort to join South Ossetia to Russia’s North Ossetia.

Abkhazia

Abkhazia, a mountainous region in northwest Georgia, has seen the country’s bloodiest fighting since 1991. During the Soviet era, Abkhazia was an autonomous republic inside Georgia, hosting its own ethnic group. The growth of Georgian nationalism in the late 1980s was paralleled by a growing Abkhaz nationalist movement, and Georgian-Abkhaz relations grew increasingly tense, with the first violent clashes already taking place in 1989. After independence, the Tbilisi government attempted to re-impose central authority over Abkhazia in 1992, after separatists announced their intention to break from Georgia and establish closer ties with Russia. A thirteen-month war between Georgian government forces and Abkhaz separatists followed, which ultimately involved Russian troops and volunteers from other parts of the Caucasus, and resulted in widespread ethnic cleansing in which an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Georgians were killed and up to 250,000 refugees fled to other regions of Georgia. The war ended in 1994 with Georgian troops being expelled from Abkhazia, which had suffered heavily in the fighting, a cease-fire being declared, and 1,500 primarily Russian peacekeepers deployed on the Georgia-

Abkhazia border. Russia closed two of its four bases in Georgia according to a schedule for full withdrawal formulated at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit. However, fearing renewed violence in Abkhazia, Shevardnadze asked in June 2003 that Russian peacekeepers remain in that region. As of early 2007, 3,000 Russian troops remain in the region, despite Georgian insistence on their removal; Russia has pledged to shut down all of its bases in Georgia by 2008. Russia re-ignited tensions in 2002 by offering passports to the region’s residents and unilaterally restoring a rail link between the region and Russia. Georgia, Europe and the United States have criticized growing ties between Abkhazia and Russia, and have called for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the region.

Abkhazia declared its independence in 1994, though it has never been recognized. Georgia maintains an economic embargo on Abkhazia, which remains diplomatically and economically isolated with the partial exception of Russia, its main economic partner.

On August 9th, 2008, Abkhazian forces fired on Georgian forces in Kodori Gorge. On August 10th, 2008, an estimated 9,000 Russian troops entered Abkhazia to reinforce the Russian peacekeepers in the republic. About 1,000 Abkhazian troops moved to expel the residual Georgian forces within Abkhazia in the Upper Kodori Gorge. By August 12th, the Georgian forces and civilians had evacuated the last part of Abkhazia under Georgian government control. Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia on August 26th. On November 176th, 2008, the Abkhaz parliament ratified a bill which authorizes the construction of a Russian military base in Abkhazia in 2009.

Pankisi Gorge

The Pankisi Gorge region of northern Georgia borders the now-notorious Russian region of Chechnya, and is inhabited by a Chechen-related ethnic group called the Kists. Russia has accused Georgia of allowing Chechen guerillas and Islamic militants a safe haven in the Pankisi Gorge. Georgia contends that Russia’s war in Chechnya is responsible for an influx of refugees and guerillas into the area.

Georgia carried out anti-terrorist operations in the Gorge through the summer and fall of 2002, with assistance from the United States. However, Russia continued to claim that the Gorge served as a Chechen rebel safe haven, and carried out several (ineffective) bombing raids on Georgian territory in the Gorge later in 2002.

Domestic Issues

Some Georgians are increasingly concerned about their demographic weakness in regions with large ethnic Armenian and Azeri populations. Religious differences between Muslims and Georgian Orthodox Christians contribute to tensions, and Georgia still refuses to allow the repatriation of 300,000 Meskhetian Turks, Islamicized ethnic Georgians, who were deported to Central Asia under Stalin.

The Georgian Parliament and the Georgian Orthodox church signed a Concordat in 2002, ending separation of church and state and granting special privileges to the Church.

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FOREIGN POLICY

With the exception of relations with Russia, Georgia’s relations with its neighbors are generally good. Former President Shevardnadze played an instrumental role in trying to bridge differences between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the hosting of trilateral talks. Georgia was a founding member of GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova), a regional alliance that works to strengthen the independence of post-Soviet states. In 2005, President George W. Bush became the first sitting U.S. President to visit Georgia.

Russia has interrupted gas deliveries to Georgia on a number of occasions. On January 22, 2006, two mysterious explosions in Russia's North Ossetia province knocked out the main pipeline that exports gas to Georgia. Georgian officials suspected the explosions were attempts by Russia to pressure Georgia, which remains heavily dependent on Russia for its energy needs. The incident sparked anti-Russian demonstrations and initiated Georgian moves to secure new energy supplies, including from Iran and Central Asia.

Western Europe

President Saakashvili actively pursues Georgia’s integration with the West. Georgia joined the Council of Europe in April 1999, and is also a member of NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and Partnership for Peace; Georgia seeks to attain full NATO membership by 2008. In June 2000, Georgia became the 137th member of the World Trade Organization. On October 2, 2006, Saakashvili signed a statement on the agreed text of the Georgia-European Union Action Plan that details the assistance that the EU will offer Georgia in its process towards meeting the standards to become an EU state. The Action Plan will be formally approved at the EU-Georgia Cooperation Council session in November 2006.

In 2001, the helicopter of a United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia was shot down over Abkhazia, killing nine on board. In 2002, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning Georgia’s failure to find the perpetrators of that attack and reprimanding both sides in the Abkhaz conflict for failing to work to end the conflict.

Several incidents of kidnapping EU civilians as well as UN Observers in Georgia occurred throughout 2002-2003. The EU threatened the suspension of financial aid if Georgia did not make greater efforts to control the lawlessness in the Pankisi and Kodori Gorges. Since these threats, Georgia has made more attempts to secure the gorge and currently appears successful in its efforts.

At their Summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO leaders agreed that Georgia would become a member of the Alliance, and launched a period of intensive engagement with Georgia to address questions still outstanding pertaining to Georgia’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) application.

Israel

Relations between Georgia and Israel are warm. Israel has an embassy in Tbilisi (also accredited to neighboring Armenia), and Georgia maintains an embassy in Tel Aviv. In January 1998, then President Shevardnadze met in Israel with then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and signed a “declaration of friendship.” Netanyahu returned the favor in March 1999, visiting Tbilisi and signing a military cooperation agreement. Georgia has also purchased Israeli military equipment. Georgia also relies on Israel to assist in trade relations with the United States, as Israel has free trade agreements with both the United States and the European community.

Israel has provided humanitarian aid to Georgia on several occasions. During an official visit to Georgia by Israeli President Moshe Katsav in January 2001, Israel initiated drought assistance for Georgian agriculture, and in 2002, Israel sent humanitarian assistance to earthquake victims. Israeli hospitals support the Tbilisi Diabetes Center through a twin-cities program. In addition, in 2004 and 2005, the University of Georgia and Hebrew University joined together in a program to study the effects of terrorism on children.

Georgian President Saakashvili made closer relations with Israel a priority for his administration after his January 2004 election. He visited Israel in July 2004 and again in October/November 2006, met with Jewish leaders from Georgia, Russia and Israel during Georgian-Jewish Friendship Week in October 2004, and took part in Hanukkah festivities at the Tbilisi Synagogue in December 2005. Saakashvili has promoted Israeli tourism to Georgia, and has attempted to use Israel’s sizable community of Georgian Jews to spur foreign investment in Georgia, even offering dual citizenship to Israelis originally from Georgia (as of 2006, 338 Israelis reportedly have taken up Georgian citizenship). Georgia’s pursuit of closer ties with Israel is said by many as designed to help counteract its deteriorating relations with Russia, its main trade partner. As a result, Israeli direct foreign investment in Georgia increased to almost $3 million by 2006, compared to only $500,000 in 2003. Georgia’s participation in the region’s strategic TBC oil pipeline has also attracted Israeli attention. In 2006 and 2007, Israel and Turkey reached a provisional agreement to carry Azeri oil through Georgia and Turkey to the Israeli port of Eilat for shipment to Asian markets, increasing revenues for both countries.

When Russian troops began moving into the South Ossetia region of Georgia in August 2008, the Jewish Agency became active in caring for the needs of the Jewish community in Georgia. Of the 200 Jews of Gori, a town adjacent to the battle zone, a large number immediately turned to the Aliyah office to come to Israel.

The Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem received hundreds of requests for information about both Israeli and local Jews in Georgia. On August 12th and 13th, 2008, Israel sent planes to the area to bring back to Israel the hundreds of Israelis who were trapped in the war-zone. The Jewish Agency workers in Tbilisi worked together with the embassy to facilitate this mission.

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ECONOMIC SITUATION

In September 2008, the U.S. announced a $1 billion economic aid package to help Georgia rebuild after the conflict with Russia. The first $570 million was delivered to Georgia by the end of 2008 and the remaining $430 delivered in 2009.

Georgia is only now starting to recover from more than a decade of economic turmoil and decline, caused by civil strife, misrule, and corruption. Poverty is still common, with up to a quarter of the population estimated to live below the poverty line. Unemployment in 2006 was estimated at 13.6 percent. Georgia was among the most prosperous republics of the Soviet Union, but its economy was devastated after the 1991 Soviet breakup due to the ongoing conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and extensive corruption, smuggling, and government mismanagement. Political chaos was aggravated by hyperinflation and by 1995, the Georgian GDP was estimated at about 30 percent of its 1990 level. Growth was slow in 1998-2000 due to the Russian and Asian financial crises and a massive drought, but picked up in 2000 due in part to limited economic reforms. Since 2000, the GDP has continued its positive growth; in 2005, the GDP increased by seven percent, and by 9.3 percent in 2006. President Saakashvili’s dynamic new administration has won plaudits from Western observers and analysts for its commitment to structural reform, anti-corruption drive, deregulation and privatization, and promotion of a pro-business environment. The World Bank has recognized Georgia as one of the world’s fastest-reforming economies, ranking it in the same category as some European countries for ease of doing business. Although unemployment and inflation are increasing, so are foreign investment flows and the government’s collections of tax revenues.

Georgia’s economy is based primarily on agriculture, mining, and the production of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, metals, machinery, and chemicals. It relies on imports for almost all of its energy needs, primarily from Russia. Georgia’s primary trading partners are Turkey and Russia, but Georgia is attempting to boost its trade with the West and attract direct foreign investment. Continuing tensions between Georgia and Russia remain a cause of economic concern, given Russia’s prominent role in Georgia’s economy.

Georgia occupies a prime location for trans-shipment of oil from the Caspian and Central Asia into Europe. In 1996, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed a lucrative 30-year deal to pump “early oil” through Georgia to the Black Sea port of Supsa where it can be distributed throughout the Balkans. Other projects include the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum oil and gas pipelines that run through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. The BTC began operating in May 2006, and is widely expected to boost employment and direct foreign investment across the south Caucasus region.

Due to its struggling economy, Georgia joined the CIS-7 initiative, created in 2001 by international lending organizations to reform the financial structure of new loans to the poorest former Soviet countries, with a focus on private sector development. From 1995 to 2001, Georgia adhered to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank requirements, receiving over $277 million from the IMF, and $334.9 million from the World Bank.

International investment has focused on administrative and judicial reform, the private and energy sectors, health care, and infrastructure. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been in partnership with Georgia since 1994 to work on developing infrastructure, reforming the financial sector, introducing further market competition, restructuring the corporate sector and introducing sound corporate governance. In 2005, the EBRD gave $425 million to benefit this effort. USAID is also actively involved in creating reforms in Georgia. From 2004 to 2006, it gave $225 million to Georgia.

President Mikheil Saakashvili has made significant economic progress since his January 2004 election, particularly in improving tax collections. Prior to Saakashvili’s tax reform initiatives, Georgia chronically failed to collect taxes. His administration’s changes to the tax code and increased enforcement efforts have decreased corruption and organized crime, and brought greater income to the state. There has been a significant increase in privatization, market reforms, and entrepreneurship undertakings. With a stronger economy, reliance on Russia can decrease. In particular, the construction and operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline should begin to relieve Georgia’s current dependence on Russia for energy.

In late March 2006, Russia banned the importation of all Georgian wines, causing serious harm to the Georgian economy. In May 2006, Russia banned the importation of a popular brand of Georgian mineral water. Both moves were widely seen as politically-motivated punishment for Georgia’s for pro-NATO and pro-American policies.

In September and October 2006, relations with Russia worsened dramatically when Georgian police arrested four Russian military officers suspected of being Russian spies. The officers were eventually returned to Russia. In retaliation, Russia declared a blockade on Georgia, cutting off all transportation and mail between the two states, including money transfers. Russian authorities began raiding Georgian businesses in Russia, deporting hundreds of guest workers, and harassing Georgian communities in Russia. The United States and Europe expressed their support of Georgia in the face of tough Russian rhetoric.

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JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM

Jewish settlement in Georgia dates back 2,600 years. Once numbering as many as 100,000, the Jewish population has been declining for over fifty years, in large part as a response to Soviet-era restrictions and emigration spurring by the political and economic turmoil following independence. During Soviet rule, Georgian Jews comprised the majority of Georgians convicted of economic crimes, oftentimes receiving more severe punishment than other criminals.

During the 1970s and 1980s, some thirty thousand Georgian Jews made aliyah while thousands more immigrated to other countries, totaling nearly one-fifth of Georgia’s Jewish population. By 1989, there were fewer than 25,000 Jews left in Georgia. Despite its rapid decrease in size and Soviet-era restrictions and persecutions, the Georgian Jewish community has maintained its identity and traditions. Intermarriage rates are low and levels of Jewish knowledge and community involvement are higher than in many other former Soviet republics.

The distinction between Ashkenazi and Mountain Jews (Tats) often extends into religious and communal organizations, though relations are usually warm. Tbilisi is home to an estimated 11,000 Jews, and smaller communities remain in Kutaisi, Batumi, Rustavi, Ahaltsihe, Ahalkalaki, Surami, Oni, Kareli, and Stalin’s hometown of Gori. Almost no Jews remain in the war-torn provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

photo: Shai Franklin

Jewish Ethnographic Museum, Tbilisi

Since Georgia’s independence, the government has been supportive of the Jewish community and promotes the rights of Jews. In 1994, Shevardnadze issued a decree ordering the protection of Jewish religious, cultural, and historical monuments. In September 1998, the Georgian government sponsored a major celebration commemorating 26 centuries of Jewish life in Georgia. Over 50,000 people attended, including then President Shevardnadze, then Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Katsav, Israel’s Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbis, and American Jewish leaders. Amidst Hanukkah celebrations in 2005, President Saakashvili offered Georgian Jews dual citizenship with Israel.

Organized Jewish life has flourished since independence. There are thirty Jewish institutions, three Jewish newspapers, a radio station and TV station. Most communal organizations are based in Tbilisi. The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC/ “Joint”) both have permanent representatives stationed in Georgia, and the JDC-supported Hesed Eliyahu distributes food and medical aid to the elderly, who comprise over 50 percent of the Jewish population. A branch of Hillel is active in Tbilisi.

The Rachamin Society, founded in 1990, supplies financial and medical support as well as organizes care for Jewish cemeteries and synagogues. It serves as the umbrella organization for Ashkenazi Jews. Derekh Yehudi, The Association of Georgian Jews, promotes property restitution and hosts a variety of community events and programs. Its focus is regaining property rights to a 19th-century Ashkenazi synagogue, which was converted into a club during the Communist era and later to a popular theater.

Though the community’s synagogues are regarded as distinct to the Georgian or Ashkenazi communities, the services, and especially educational programs of the community, cater to both groups. The Chief Rabbi of Georgia, Rabbi Ariel Levin, is a native Georgian who received his ordination in Israel.

A Jewish day school, a library, several Sunday schools for children and adults, and a yeshiva college for men all contribute to the revitalization of Jewish life. Rabbi Levin opened a kindergarten in 2002 at his 86-student day school, Tiferet Tsvi. An educational center, also run by Rabbi Levin, teaches both secular and religious subjects and has recently started a program to train Jewish teachers for the community. A JDC-supported Open University offers high-level courses in Judaism.

In 2003, JDC hosted the opening of a new “Jewish House” for several of the community’s organizations: the Hesed Eliyahu Charitable Center, the Jewish Cultural Center, Hillel-Tbilisi, the Institute of Social and Communal Workers, editorial headquarters of the Jewish newspapers, and the Office of the Georgian-Jewish Folk Dance and Song Ensemble. Several hundred people including Georgian government officials, the ambassadors from Israel and the United States, and leaders of the Jewish community, including NCSJ, attended the dedication ceremony.

photo: Shai Franklin

Tbilisi synagogue, now home to
popular theater company

Georgian Jewish history is preserved at the Jewish Ethnographic Museum. Tbilisi’s Shalom Club, comprised of graduates of courses offered by the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Center for International Cooperation (MASHAV), coordinates community events and charity projects in Georgia in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy.

Christian organizations have been supportive of the Jewish community as well. In January 2001, the Georgian Orthodox Church and Jewish community signed an agreement of mutual respect and support of one another which helped continue the warm relations between the Jewish community and the church.

State media have published articles condemning anti-Semitism, and a state-sponsored radio station broadcasts a special program for Georgians living in Israel. The main problems facing Georgian Jewry are the same as for the general population: crime, corruption, unemployment, inadequate health care and state services. Jewish organizations report that, overall, the Georgian government is very supportive of the right to emigrate and move freely.

In February of 2006, Rabbi Abraam Khvoles, a spiritual and civic leader who lived in Georgia more than a century ago, was honored with a new Georgian postage stamp. There was a ceremony at the Georgian Jewish Synagogue in Forest Hills, New York to celebrate the occasion marking the first time a former republic of the Soviet Union issued a stamp honoring a rabbi.

Anti-Semitic incidents have been few in recent Georgian history. Cases of religious intolerance and persecution appear to focus instead on minority Christian denominations, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, Baptists, and Armenian Catholics. Observers note occasional hostility shown by Georgian Orthodox priests and local officials towards non-Orthodox believers that at times spill over into physical attacks and destruction of property.

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U.S. POLICY

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld points out a U.S. Marine as he talks with the Marines and Army soldiers deployed to Kritsanisi, Georgia, on Dec. 5, 2003. Rumsfeld is in Georgia to meet with Acting President Nino Burjanadze, Minister of Defense Gen. David Tevzadze and to visit with U.S. troops deployed there. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway, U.S. Air Force.

Department of Defense photo

December 2003: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld with American soldiers deployed to Kritsanisi, Georgia