"WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE OUR CITIZENS"

Everyone knows her as the mother of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. But at the same time, she is a scientist, a specialist in Turkic philology and a public figure. Giuli Alasania is a person who has done a lot to strengthen good neighbourly relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia. As the director of the Georgia-Azerbaijan House of Friendship, Alasania is making a lot of efforts to solve problems of Georgia's Azerbaijani population and to secure its full integration into Georgian society. She is very pleased with her last visit to Azerbaijan. She is also pleased with the level of strategic partnership between our countries and the attitude to the Georgian population in Azerbaijan. Mrs Alasania plans to pay her next visit to Baku in September this year. The visit will focus on the expansion of cultural relations between the two neighbours, education, health and many other issues. The first interview with the director of the Georgia-Azerbaijan House of Friendship was published in our magazine two years ago. A lot has changed since then, and we decided that we have something to talk about.

Mrs Alasania, two years ago we talked about the priorities of the Georgia-Azerbaijan House of Friendship. You also touched on problems that need to be solved first of all. What is the situation like now and what is your organization doing?

For the time being, our organization is small. On the whole, we are dealing with domestic, cultural, economic and other problems that concern our citizens. I have had private meetings with Azerbaijanis. I have very good impressions. They are hard workers. They are very honest and professional. Of course, life is hard for everyone right now and there are many other problems as well. But everything is getting better step by step, and everyone can see that people have more chances to make money. You don't need to have a lot of money to start your own business because banks can give you a loan for your project and so on.

What do you emphasize more in your work at the House of Friendship?

One of the projects of our House of Friendship is schools where we give our citizens of Azerbaijani origin a chance to learn the Georgian language. Thus, we started opening schools. The first school was opened in Marneuli. The most interesting thing is that our pupils are people of different ages. We have seen a seven-year-old child there who carefully wrote letters, and a grown-up lad who had come there to learn how to write in Georgian. But these schools teach not just the Georgian language. There are groups that learn English. That's to say someone is learning English and somebody else - Georgian.

We can only thank you for your efforts. Knowledge of Georgian is one of the most topical problems for the Azerbaijani population.

It is interesting that the initiative to launch this project came from the Azerbaijanis themselves. Why do many of them not speak Georgian? Because under the Soviets, all our citizens of non-Georgian origin usually went to Russian schools. And many of them did not speak Georgian. It was not compulsory then. And many of them left after school because the main language of teaching in Georgian universities was Georgian. There are some easy options for people who had gone to Russian schools. But further education was in Georgian anyway. This means that in any case, they needed some knowledge of Georgian. If not, then these people usually left for Moscow, Leningrad, Baku and Yerevan. Today we do not want to lose our citizens, and they want to stay at home as well. Now that we have an opportunity to get proper education in our own country, these people can do so at home.

Incidentally, let's talk about education now. Why did you choose to study Turkic languages?

You know, it is a kind of family tradition. One of my close relatives was director of the Institute for Oriental Studies, a well-known Arabist and an academician. Another close relative of mine was a specialist in Turkic philology and wrote many books about the life and work of Jalaladdin Rumi. Perhaps, this is why I chose this profession. What is more, I found all this very interesting, because Turkey is our neighbour, even though we did not maintain any relations with them under the Soviets. Although we had a common border with Turkey, it was impossible to cross it. In order to get into Turkey, we had to fly via Moscow, and very few people managed it. Now everything is different. Our life is different, and our relations have resumed. We don't even need a visa to go to Turkey and there are flights every day. And flights are always overbooked.

As for science, the faculty of Turkic languages has always been quite strong in our university. And actually, our faculty of oriental studies is famed for its teachers. Turkic philology has been studied in Georgia since the 19th century. The first Georgian specialist in Turkic philology was Dmitri Bakradze. He wrote a study on Turkey. Catherine II had a great interest in Turkey, and Ambassador Baratashvili, who was of Georgian origin, was sent to Istanbul to study land use and the administrative system in Turkey. On his return from Turkey, he wrote a report which was submitted to the empress. Perhaps, Baratashvili was our first specialist in Turkic philology. Under the Soviets, when the faculty of oriental studies was opened at our university, we already had Arabists and specialists in Turkic and Iranian philology. We had wonderful teachers like Sergiy Jikia who was educated in Turkey - it was possible then, but after that, the border was closed.

In is interesting that despite many years of isolation, Georgia and Turkey today have very good relations in both political and economic spheres.

This is natural, because we have a common border, and not just a common border. There are many Georgians living in Turkey. Different figures are named - from 1.5 to 4 million. By the way, there is a Georgian-populated district in Istanbul. There are also many Georgians in Bursa. Many of them occupy quite high positions. Some of them have maintained their language and cultural traditions, which shows their tolerance. They are proud of their Georgian origin. At the same time, they love Turkey. The muhajirs who arrived in Turkey in the 19th century are very grateful to this country, because they think that they were welcome there and were given the best lands. And they keep repeating that they have never encountered any obstacles in their careers because of their origin. It is natural that they are grateful to Turkey for that.