TBILISI, JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian investigators travelled to Duisi, the largest village in Georgia’s predominantly Muslim Pankisi Gorge, to inspect a suspected arson that damaged a Culture House run by the Kakheti Regional Development Fund (KRDF) earlier this month.
KRDF members said that jerry cans with fuel and oil were found inside the building and that the fire was an arson attempt.
The fire, sources said, highlights increased tension in the Pankisi Gorge between reactionary Islamists and more liberal thinkers. The IS extremist group has successfully recruited men to join their forces in Syria from the Pankisi Gorge.
Iza Bekauri, spokesperson for KRDF said that the centre has previously been threatened.
“There have been threats that we should get out of the Gorge. They said our work here in this place is unacceptable and we should leave,” media quoted her as saying.
The KRDF is a government sponsored programme that aims to help refugees in the Pankisi Gorge integrate. These are mainly ethnic Chechens who escaped from fighting in Russia’s North Caucasus in the early 2000s.
As well as providing legal assistance to Chechen refugees, the the community centre promotes educational and recreational activities for both youths and women.
A KRDF employee who wanted to remain anonymous told The Conway Bulletin that some radical elements in the Pankisi Gorge were against women using the centre.
“They like our educational activities but they don’t like our cultural events, women engagement and Women Council’s work,” he said.
Levani, a local dentist, said that a lack of education was the problem.
“Some young men don’t like the idea of women being more independent. Chechens have been living there for long time and they love Georgia. The problem is Pankisi is a remote and isolated part of our country. The problem is not Islam, the problem is limited education”, he said.
The KRDF has said it will consider suspending its activities if the area is deemed unsafe.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)