Pankisi Gorge: President’s Adviser visits challenging region
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The President Adviser in ethnical minority issues has visited the Pankisi Gorge, a valley mainly inhabited by the Kist sub-ethnos in northeastern Georgia that bordered the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation today.
Sophie Shamanidi spoke to locals about the problems they faced and were most concerned about.
Pankisi elders said unemployment was a major problem which had resulted in an exodus of the youth from the region.
High unemployment and a lack of opportunities were believed to be the reasons behind the trend to leave the gorge – the area that once sheltered rebels from the Russians during the Chechen wars.
The Pankisi Gorge remained one of the most challenging areas for Georgia. In 2003 it was a place of major military engagement where a special operation involving police and US-trained special forces were required to repress the threats of Al-Qaeda.
The gorge was also home to Tarkhan Batirashvili - also known as Abu Omar al-Shishani, a military leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
It has been reported that a growing number of young men from the Pankisi Valley have recently left the region to join ISIS.
Meanwhile today Shamanidi also visited schools in the area and listened to teacher’s problems. She also met the Council of Elders of Pankisi and discussed the ways of solving the unemployment problem with them.
"We need to implement projects which will give new opportunities to the gorge’s youth and prevent them from leaving the area,” Shamanidi said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili visited the Gorge. On his visit he told the locals the Government was working on a special program for the Pankisi Gorge which aimed to create better living conditions there.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili today met with members of the Council of Elders of the Pankisi Gorge, a valley in northeastern Georgia that bordered the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation, today.
Georgian citizens will be sent to prison if they join or train with illegal military groups abroad, officials say.
Youth living in the Pankisi Gorge, a challenging region of Georgia, will be able to develop their photography skills with help from one of the country’s leading photographers.
Georgia is taking drastic action to impose severe punishments on citizens who leave the country and join international terrorist organisations.
Four Georgian citizens have been arrested for joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and supporting terrorism.
For the first time in its history Duisi village in Georgia’s heavily Muslim-populated eastern Pankisi Gorge area has a female Governor.
A Georgian citizen has been arrested for having alleged links with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and supporting terrorism. Georgian police detained Davit Borchashvili, 29, a resident of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, when he arrived in Tbilisi International Airport from Turkey last night.
Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli has offered youth living in Pankisi Gorge, a challenging region in Georgia, to join the Georgian army on a contract-based military service and make a successful military career. The Pankisi Gorge is a valley mainly inhabited by the Kist sub-ethnos in northeastern Georgia that borders the Chechnyan republic of the Russian Federation.
The United States (US) Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly says Georgia and his country stand together in the global fight against terrorism.. Kelly stressed he "absolutely trusted” the words of Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikahsvili that no terrorism threats came from the Pankisi Gorge.
A two-week recruitment drive in Pankisi Gorge has ended successfully for the Ministry of Defence, with more than two dozen young men registering to serve in Georgia’s Armed Forces (GAF).
Caption: British Ambassador Alexandra Hall Hall said more opportunities should be offered to people living in Pankisi Gorge. Photo by British Embassy to Georgia.
Traditional Islamic mosques in Georgia’s eastern, mainly Muslim-populated Pankisi Gorge, will no longer register youth marriages, announced a top, local representative today.
Tbilisi City Court sentenced a Georgian man to 12 years in prison for being a member of a terrorist organisation and participating in terrorist activities.
One individual has been killed and three others injured during an armed incident in the village of Sakobiani, Georgia’s Muslim-populated Pankisi Gorge earlier today.