MINELRES: Press Conference: Georgian Minority Communities and NATO Expansion
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Tue Jul 1 17:18:05 2008
Original sender: Alexandra Kalatozishvili <[email protected]>
Press Release
Announcement of Press Conference � Georgian Minority Communities and NATO
Expansion
What do we know about how Georgia�s national minorities view NATO? Are
Georgia�s national minorities against the membership of Georgia into NATO
and if so, how can the authorities prevent a critical rift occurring,
between central policy and popular feeling in the regions?
Multinational Georgia is responding to the challenge by launching their
own initiative to answer these questions. The first stage involves direct
consultations with minority communities, another element of the initiative
will be seeking permission from the Ministry of Defence to hold multicultural
education seminars for troops who are being dispatched to Iraq.
On 23rd, 24th June Youth Union of Multinational Georgia (YUPMMG) sent two
representatives to Akhalkalaki for the first stage of the initiative, where
they held discussion forums with teachers, political leaders, media
representatives, youth and NGO workers on the subject of NATO. The aim was to
discover what they knew about NATO and how they felt about Georgia joining the
alliance. What emerged was that the primary fear of citizens there is that
NATO will make them worse, not better off. They also gave an insight into
some of the factors preventing people gaining information about NATO that
could allay their anxieties.
On Wednesday 2nd July at 2pm YUPMMG will be holding a press conference to
explain their findings and to set out their next steps towards making
recommendations for representatives of NATO, the Georgian government and
NGOs working in the regions settled by minorities. Members of the press
and other interested parties are invited to attend.
The address will be 82 Javakhishvili Street, Tbilisi, 0112.
For any queries please contact our press service on Tel/Fax : +995 910 557
Press service
Youth Union Public Movement Multinational Georgia
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