THE MAP NO ONE KNEW ABOUT

The information about the renaming of several Azerbaijani place names in Georgia's Marneuli and Tsalka districts caused a great outcry among the local population. Residents of the villages that were given Georgian names were totally outraged by this step. "It is not enough that they renamed the village, they did not even ask us about it," the villagers say. Under Georgian law, the initiative to change the name of a village can come only from local residents, the appropriate appeal on whose behalf is filed by the municipality.

Georgiy Dolidze, chief specialist of the infrastructure department under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Georgia, confirmed in an interview with R+ the fact that maps with new names for Azerbaijani villages had appeared on the website of the State Registry of Georgia. Although he denied that there had been an official decision to this end.

- What is behind the decision to rename toponyms of Azerbaijani villages in the Marneuli and Tsalsk districts of Georgia?

- Information about changes to toponyms of Azerbaijani villages in Marneuli and Tsalsk districts does not conform with reality. The name of only one village has been changed in Marneuli District - Ordzhonikidze to Semerlo.

This is not an Azerbaijani village. The names of the following villages have been changed in the Tsalsk District: Ulyanga - to Berta, Bashkoy - to Bereti, Khabeki - to Tbeti, Tiakilisa - to Tangyari, Akhlik - to Kokhta, Shitioks - to Chiredeli, Gunyagala - to Sameba and others. These villages are populated by Greeks and Armenians.

Our commission has not received proposals from the municipality of Marneuli District, which, by the way, is led by an ethnic Azerbaijani. The municipalities cannot, without the agreement of the local population, take such an initiative. A proposal to change the names of villages must be accompanied by protocols of meetings of village residents.

The procedure to change the names of villages does not provide for any vertical decision, by order from the top. This is due to the restoration of historical justice. As I know, the name of the village in the Marneuli District was connected with a communist leader.

A proposal to change the names of villages goes through the commission of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development and is endorsed by the president of Georgia. Proposals of new names are the prerogative of the local population and municipalities.

In this case, as assumed, the initiative came from below, from the local population and the municipalities. To be more precise, it came from the municipalities.

Under the procedure, all changes are endorsed by the president of Georgia. The fact is that some villages, for various reasons, were re-named earlier, names were changed, and legislation makes it possible to restore historical justice. According to Georgian legislation, municipalities can also initiate the changing of names of streets, squares and so forth.

On the website of the Georgian registry, there is a map giving arbitrary names to villages. Certainly, this could be the reason for the misunderstanding. We are dealing with it, since the registry has no powers to draw up maps with new names for villages. Most likely, this occurred as a result of misunderstanding. I want to stress again that our commission has not received proposals from the municipalities of Marneuli District to change Azerbaijani toponyms of villages in Marneuli District.

- Does the changing of names of villages not contradict the recommendations of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention under the Council of Europe on the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities?

- There are no contradictions. The convention recommends that one should write the names of villages in both the official language and in the language of the ethnic minority.

- Have names of Armenian villages changed in Samtskhe-Javakhetia?

- As of now, the commission under the ministry has not received any initiatives to change village names in the Samtskhe-Javakhetia region. As far as I know, no such appeals have been received from this region.