Batumi

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The Gushagebi student movement at Batumi’s Shota Rustaveli University. Via Batumelebi.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Students at Batumi’s Shota Rustaveli University stage sit-in against fraudulent election

by OC Media

•2 min read

A new student movement at Batumi’s Shota Rustaveli University has organised a sit-in in protest against the rigging of Georgia’s parliamentary elections. The movement, named Gushagebi (‘guards’), on Thursday accused the acting rector and other members of the administration of being involved in pre-election agitation, as well as aiding in electoral fraud for the ruling Georgian Dream party. ‘I appeal to all students who are not standing with us today to join us in this great struggle’, sai

Adjara

Ruling party boycotts Batumi City Council

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

Georgian Dream councilors have boycotted Batumi City Council, preventing the council from appointing a head as well as voting to annul the annual city budget approved by the outgoing council last month. On Thursday, councilors from Georgian Dream did not show up to an extraordinary council meeting, denying the council the quorum needed to vote for its chairperson for the second time. Batumi, the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, is among just 20 cities and municipalities where Ge

Adjara

Natia Kapanadze dismissed as Adjara TV director

by OC Media

•3 min read

Natia Kapanadze has been dismissed from her position as director of Adjara TV, a public broadcaster in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, after four out of five members of the channel’s Advisory Board passed a motion of no confidence against her. Kapanadze has pledged to appeal the board’s decision in court. Kapanadze had held the position since 2016; her term as director was set to expire in eight months. Deputy director Natia Zoidze will take over as acting director until the board dec

Adjara

Gülen school manager arrested after Turkish PM’s Tbilisi visit

by OC Media

•2 min read

A manager at the Private Demirel College, a school linked to Turkish opposition political figure Fethullah Gülen, has been detained in Tbilisi. Mustafa Emre Çabuk was detained on 24 May for ‘supporting a terrorist organisation’ allegedly upon Turkey’s request. Tbilisi City Court ordered the provisional detention of Çabuk for three months on 25 May. ‘I have never been convicted in Georgia or in Turkey. I have never worn even a knife and they are accusing me of being a member of terrorist o

Batumi

Two men arrested for ‘organising Batumi riot’

by OC Media

•2 min read

Former member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, Irakli Chkhirkvia, and the head of the Anti-Corruption Information Centre, a local anti-graft group, Merab Ghoghoberidze were arrested on 23 April for ‘organising a riot’, more than a month after violence rocked Georgia’s port city of Batumi. Merab Ghoghoberidze was detained on 23 April for ‘disobeying the police’ after being fined for not wearing a seatbelt. Local magazine, Batumelebi, reported that he was taken to Ba

Batumi

Georgia’s Muslim authority should represent the interests of Georgia’s Muslims, not the government’s [Opinion]

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•4 min read

The Administration of Muslims of All Georgia is supposed to represent the interests of all of Georgia’s Muslims. However, instead of responding to community concerns — it acts in concert with the state. To support the political integration of Georgia’s Muslims it must undertake reforms. The Administration of Muslims of all Georgia was established in 2011 as a non-governmental agency; its stated goals are to protect the interests and historical heritage of Georgia’s Muslim communities and