OSCE, Georgia Launch Measures to Strengthen Inter-Ethnic Ties
The Georgian government, with the assistance of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), launched a new project aimed at the strengthening of inter-ethnic relations in Georgia, the OSCE Mission in Georgia reported on February 15.
The project will mainly focus on Georgia?s Samtskhe-Javakheti region, which is predominately populated by ethnic Armenians.
The project, which was developed by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, envisages Georgian language courses for civil servants and university students, Armenian translations of re-broadcasted of Georgian television news programs, and free legal consultations for the ethnic Georgian and Armenian populations in the towns of Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
President Mikheil Saakashvili called for a “building of bridges” with the country’s ethnic minorities, while addressing students of Tbilisi State University on February 15. ?We should learn to look at things through their [ethnic minorities?] eyes,? he said.
