Kakheti Information Center
After renaming streets named after famous Russian poets and writers, all villages associated with Russia are being renamed. The village Saruso in Kvareli region has been renamed. Kvareli municipality council decision needs endorsement of Governmental Commission of Geographical Naming.
380 people live in Saruso. 95% of the population is Lezghin. Lezghins have come from Daghestani a long ago and started living in the bottoms of Caucasian mountains. The village had a different name back then, later it was named Saruso (for Russian) since the Russian soldiers started living in the village.
The decision on renaming Saruso was made by Kvareli Municipality Council on February 25th of 2011. According to the head of the Council, the population asked for renaming the village and the local government had no political motivation.
“I do not know what exactly prompted them to ask for changing the village name, but people had a though that the village should have a better name. I do not know why they did not like Saruso. That is their problem. There is no political motivation behind this decision,” – states the deputy head of Kvareli municipality Zaza Lomidze. The village is renamed after the river Shorokhevi that passes right by it, according to him.
According to Saruso residents, the initiative of renaming the village comes from the government. “The government came and stated that the village should be renamed. They just said that it is a Russian name, nothing else. They said it did not matter. We signed the statements supposedly written by the head of the municipality council. The village population never wrote this statement. It was written by them,” – states the village resident, Magamed Omarov.
“People came from the region and stated that the village should be renamed since it had Russian name. I signed it, but I do not know what it was. Others signed it as well. We were told that Saruso should have a Georgian name. Then we got angry and started to oppose, but it did not work. People are afraid,” – states Khazuma Magamedov.
Aisha Khaibulaev, Saruso resident: “They stated that Russians named this village and we can’t leave this name. We should give back its historic name. We disagreed. But it is not up to us.”
Madinat Ramazanov, Saruso resident: “If you want Russian name, go to Russia, - they said. Where can we go now? That is the reason. There is no other reason. We signed the statement given by them. But I do not know what was written in it.”
According to Kakheti Information Center, the village Leninovka in Dedplistskaro region will also be renamed, - the village Rusiani in Sagarejo region as well.
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