Meria Smashes Refugees Hopes with Bulldozers

Meria Smashes Refugees Hopes with Bulldozers

Since the secession of Abkhazia, the problem of meeting the housing needs of IDPs (internally displaced people) remains unsolved. To this another problem is added -- under the City Meria initiative, about 120 refugees families from Abkhazia will be left homeless. In spite of Mikheil Saakashvili’s promise to leave the houses of refugees that are on the territory and around the ‘Friendship Park’ untouched until regaining the full territorial integrity of Georgia, Tbilisi Mayor Zurab Tchiaberashvili held a presentation in which he proposed building multiflat houses there, threatening to demolish the refugee settlement with bulldozers.

In 1993 a certain number of refugees occupied the territory on and around the ‘Park of Friendship’ that was littered with industrial residue, on the left bank of Mtkvari River. Refugees cleared the territory of all the litter and cultivated it, raised crops and plants, built houses and supported their families with rural-agricultural products.

For years they had no problems with the local authorities or police. But in December 2004, the mayor of Tbilisi, Mr. Zurab Tchiabereashvili, together with Evra Ltd, presented a plan which proposes a joint project to build apartments there, and told the refugees that ‘their houses will be demolished with bulldozers.’

In 1999-2001, 35,000 sq.km. of the land was privatized by the Foundation for Protecting Georgian Historical and Cultural Monuments, the owners of which intended to implement a big business-project. In October 2002 this part of the land was given in private ownership to Intellect Bank, and in March 2003 to Khashuri Ltd. (which later became Evra Ltd.).

Refugees have stated that ‘During all of these years many different representatives of government bodies have approached us, and they have been absolutely clear that there would be no actions taken against us, since it is the duty of the government to take care of us’.

In 2003 Mikheil Saakashvili also went to them to promise that they could remain where they were, untouched, until their return to Abkhazia.

In spite of all this on 10 December 2004, cases were brought to action against six families, informing them of intentions to have them removed from the area and to demolish their homes.

Some time later, six other families received court notices with the same demands.

According Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Law passed on IDPs in Georgia on June the 28th, 1996, the executive organ of the Ministry of Refugees and Placement and the corresponding organs of the local governance were to find an appropriate land for these people with the right to temporary use.

One more fact should also be noted here, that 120 refugee families who live on the state-owned land, against which no court action has yet been taken, addressed Zurab Tchiaberashvili, Tbilisi Mayor, with a request to give them some kind of official recognition to their temporary right to use the land. The Mayor sent them to the Local Government of Isani-Samgori region, where they were told that solving this issue was not within their authority.

The refugees understand that the right to property is an important acquisition of a civil society, and is protected by the Georgian Constitution and International Law. Moreover, they said that “the Georgia Law recognizes private property as the basis for civil society and the public economic system. Property is a personal freedom, and taking it away is illegal and a violation of our basic rights and freedoms. The settlements on the right bank of the Mtkvari River [opposite the left bank, Friendship Park settlement] initially started in a similar way and nobody, not even the Communists, has made them leave their residing-places. And now does our government build a democratic state by making us leave our houses?”

These 120 families asked the president for assistance, either to let them live in their houses until their return to Abkhazia, or to be duly compensated.

If these issues are not resolved in favor of the IDPs they will remain homeless, and thus once again under the threat to be ‘demolished by bulldozers’.

Eka Tsiklauri