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Chairman of â€œGeyretâ€ Peopleâ€™s Movement Alibala Asgarov: Status of regional language should be given to Azerbaijani in Georgia

19 August 2009 11:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Elnur Mammadli â€“ APA. Leaders of Georgia-based â€œGeyretâ€ Peopleâ€™s Movement held a press conference in Baku, APA reports. Member of the movementâ€™s Management Board Zumrud Gurbanov said they met with the parliamentarians, representatives of Foreign Ministry, State Committee for Diaspora and NGOs. Gurbanov said though Azerbaijan and Georgia are cooperating in many spheres, the problems of the Azerbaijanis living in Borchali remain unsolved. He said a number of problems were frozen, new problems appeared.
â€œThe Azerbaijanis living in Borchali have no land plot, the Azerbaijani language is spoken in market. There are over 20 Azerbaijani companies in Georgia. Serious gaps appeared in investment after the war with Russia. Azerbaijan may invest in various spheres in this country, this will influence the state of Azerbaijanis,â€ he said.
Gurbanov said Azerbaijani President and parliament pay attention to the problems of Georgian Azerbaijanis.

Chairman of the movement Alibala Asgarov noted that none of the problems were solved.
â€œThe Azerbaijani language has always been the second language in Georgia. If Georgia wants to integrate into Europe, status of regional language should be given to Azerbaijani. Municipality and citizens correspond in Georgian, while both head of municipality and citizens are Azerbaijanis,â€ he said.
Asgarov said the Azerbaijanis are not recruited to the state service, it is grounded that they do not know Georgian.
â€œBut this is not true. There are hundreds of Azerbaijanis, who graduated from higher schools of Georgia and know Georgian very well,â€ he said.