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Scene of religious controversy in Kobuleti

October 16, 2014
 
Giorgi Janelidze, humanrightshouse.org 

On September 10, Adjara TV-company reported about the incident about the boarding school of Muslim community in Lermontov Street in Kobuleti; Orthodox people protested opening of the school by hammering a pig-head on the door of the school. The incident became highly resonant. During several days Georgian media actively reported about the incident and follow-up events; society saw real threat of religious conflict in the fact.

Monitoring group of Human Rights House Tbilisi visited Kobuleti on September 19 to study the situation on the place. The group found still tense environment in the rainy Lermontov Street. Several young people were hiding under huge yellow umbrella; elder people were protesting opening of boarding school with banners and hymns of Georgian Orthodox Church. 

Old woman, who became famous to the society with the video uploaded in social networks, is still actively involved in the process and is one of the leaders of the protest group. She told journalists of the HRHT that initially Turkish owner of the building intended to open hotel and locals accepted it without any problem; they even blessed them. Later on, when inhabitants of the building started to build up windows, residents of Lermontov Street started to doubt; soon it turned into argument and mutual insulting. 

Police is patrolling in Lermontov Street during 24 hours and protects security of both conflicting parties. Orthodox people are skeptic about opening Muslim boarding school in the street inhabited with majority of Orthodox families because they perceive it is part of the idea on “creeping Turkish expansion.” They claim a Turkish citizen paid 250 000 USD for the property and initially planned to open a hotel there. Locals say this fact should be taken into consideration.

“You can purchase property in the prestigious districts of Batumi for 250 000 -300 000 USD. Why did he buy a property in the narrow street of Kobuleti then, which is mostly inhabited by orthodox people? As an Orthodox person I protest it and believe the boarding school must not be opened here. They bring literature from Turkey but we do not know what kind of literature it is. It is impossible to control it because everything is closed and request the Ministry of Education to get interested in this fact. I hope Orthodox government of Georgia will assist us. Representatives of municipal board and government met us and promised to help. I personally trust the God and nothing will happen without God Will,” local Andria Inaishvili said.

White iron cross is set up in front of the three-storied building. Residents of the street claim the cross was set up based on the permit issued by the local government. Local Nani Meladze is sure that children not only from Kobuleti will study in the boarding school; according to her information children are coming from Guria region too. “Why should our children study in this school?! We do not want it! It is huge house; a lot of people come here and bother us with noise. It is not appropriate place for the school. 100% of local inhabitants are Orthodox and we are categorically against opening of Medress or any school here, not to say anything about Muslim Jame or others.”

Eter Tsetskhladze blames the government in inattention. “None of the government officials came here. Nobody got interested in the situation, while people actively scold and blame us. Why do not governmental officials respond to them? Why have we, Georgians, become minority?”

“No to Turkish Medres-Jame-Boarding School in our neighborhood!” “Stop Turkish Expansion!” Mirian Tsetskhladze, one of the organizers of the protest demonstration and activist said. “There are several similar boarding schools, so called Medreses, in Kobuleti district: in the village of Tsikhisdziri, in Jikhanjuri village and two more in Chakvi. Though there is no necessity of them at all. They have total 40 pupils. They teach at Rustaveli Street too. If they succeed now, tomorrow they will open new one in another district. It is similar to creeping invasion.”

When we headed towards the boarding school, the protesters shouted at us – do not take off shoes. Entering the building, we found three young people there. They were protecting the building from the protesters. We thought to take off shoes or not. More precisely, we were ready to obey the request of hosts who appeared later; finally they kindly offered us shoe covers that resolved the awkward situation.

Roin Gundadze is from Khulo municipality. He is former pupil of the boarding school and now coordinates the school. He showed us about light rooms with the space for 40 pupils and double-storied beds. Bedrooms, classrooms and dining room are furnished in high standards. We were told the classrooms will host forty children. One part of the large room is for class works and second is for prayers. Teachers and pupils have separate bedrooms. Purity and order are main priorities in the institution. We detected neither bricked up windows nor the desire to darken rooms.

Kakha Kakhadze is third-year student of Batumi State University and simultaneously guards the boarding school. He said children mostly from mountainous villages of Adjara come to the boarding school to study. Those, who have desire, can go home on the weekends. Kakha said religion lessons last only 90 minutes every day; the rest time is dedicated to the subjects and text-books adopted for Georgian schools.

“I think society does not know what they protest. They think it is Turkish expansion while it has nothing to do with it. Some people claim they do not want Muslim educational institution here because most inhabitants are orthodox people. Georgian pupils are studying here; teachers are also Georgian and they teach Georgian language and patriotism to pupils. We all are Georgian Muslims who study here. We are very offended when we are called either Turkish or Tatars. If it is Turkish expansion, we would also go against it but we definitely know that it is not true. Christian population lived close to Rustaveli Street # 33, where I studied during three years, but nobody protested the school and we did not face any problems at all,” Kakha Kakhadze said.

Boarding school in Rustaveli Street # 33 is a bit outdated. We took of shoes at the entrance and attended classes of about 20-30 pupils divided into different classes according to the age. Principle of the school Gia Surmanidze told us about function and specifics of the school. They help backward pupils to catch up the academic program.

Georgian Ministry of Education and Science issued special Educational License to resolve similar problems. “Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Adjara Autonomous Republic implements boarding school program in six schools. A special working group is set up in the Georgian Ministry of Education, which works on the introduction of changes in the standards of the care of children. We cooperate with the Ministry of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare to introduce amendments to the rules of issuing license on educational activities. The rule obliges every person/organization to meet criteria to get the license on educational activities,” Public Relation Department of the Ministry of Education sent letter to reply to the questions of HRHT.

On October 6, Georgian media spread special statement of the Public Defender of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili with regard to the fact. “Freedom of religion is one of the basic human rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Georgia and international acts. Despite the fact that the state has an obligation not to unduly violate freedom of religion of a person it is obligated to take active measures in order to allow everyone to fully exercise this right. Starting from September 10 to this day  the Public Defender of Georgia have addressed various government agencies, including Main Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and Agency for Religious Issues on the issue of developments taking place around the madrasah. The Public Defender hopes to receive detailed answer to his questions from the relevant bodies. The developments in Kobuleti and  the negotiation process that have been taking place since September 10 indicate the need for active steps on the part of the state authority bodies. These steps include raising the issue of adequate legal responsibility for those   expressing religious intolerance in aggressive forms,” the statement reads. 

Specialist at the Georgian Center for the Psycho-Social Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT) Tinano Javakhishvili evaluated the disagreement between different religious groups. “I think situation in Kobuleti is a very good illustration what is generally happening in Georgian society. According to my observation, attitude of significant part of the society towards minority groups is mostly the following. “Let them exist, but should not bother me.” This phrase was mentioned several times in Kobuleti too. Similar approach undermines the idea of equality and tolerance, that are so important values for healthy development of the society.”

The active lady, who did not wish to say her name to us, added that they do not oppose the religion. “They selected the district, where nobody is Muslim. They selected absolutely Christian, Orthodox neighborhood, to make us raise voice against their religion. Thanks to the GOD, we have enough strength not to oppose the religion,” the lady said and blessed herself when parting with us. 

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