Georgia closed the only TV channel broadcasted on Azerbaijani

In Georgia, the only channel that was broadcasted in Azerbaijani is closed. According to the Azerbaijani news agency “Vesti.az”, “one of the largest national minorities of the country, the Azerbaijanis, received another very painful blow.” The agency notes that it recently writes about the problems of Georgian Azerbaijanis, problems that the local officials mainly create for them. Today, there is a new problem there.

As the agency was informed by its readers who live in the Azerbaijani region of Kvemo Kartli in Georgia, "Marneuli TV" suddenly stopped broadcasting on local frequencies. This is the only channel broadcasting in Azerbaijani. Director "Marneuli TV" Shalva Shubladze confirmed the information received from local residents.

“Since 2006, we had signed a contract with TV Kvemo Kartli located in Rustavi for using their frequencies. I want to say that we did not have a sponsor, and we paid for the frequency by our own money. However, since January of this year the contract was canceled by the initiative of the "TV Kvemo Kartli" and the frequency was taken from us, although we regularly paid for the use of the frequency. Currently, the channel is broadcasted only by the Internet. Since February 25 "Marneuli TV" will be broadcasted on Batumi channel for some time. At present negotiations are being held for receiving leasing of frequencies from different channels,” Sh. Shubladze said.

The head of “human rights monitoring group of national minorities” Elbrus Mammadov said that the local population in the region was watching the programs on this channel, which broadcasted about 12 hours a day, both in Georgian and in Azerbaijani. He also noted that much of the information on the social and economic problems, the social and political life in Georgia are only available in national language. The Azerbaijani in Kvemo Kartli do not possess Georgian at a sufficient level which knocks them out of all the vital processes in which they could take an active part.