Gita Elibekyan

4 Posts

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Gita is a Tbilisi-based journalist. She reports for Public Radio of Armenia and SBS Radio and is an editor at Aliq Media.

Khojorni village centre. Photo: Gita Elibekyan/OC Media.

Armenia

‘Head in Georgia, feet in Armenia’: life in a border village

by Gita Elibekyan

•7 min read

Khojorni is in Georgia, but the village is almost completely surrounded by Armenia. Residents struggle to access crucial forests, pastures, and even their water supply because of the border — even when what they seek is just a stone’s throw away. ‘Years ago I could bring raspberries and blackberries in buckets from the forest. I could even sell them’, Leyla Simonyan, a Khojorni resident, tells OC Media. ‘Almost everything we had was taken from there: firewood, pet food, even the water.’ The

baron

‘Democracy came and the baron disappeared’

by Gita Elibekyan

•6 min read

Georgia’s Roma people have gradually withdrawn from a number of their traditions, rejecting the baron, historically the strongest figure in the camp. While many Roma people have hailed the changes, there is also some concern over the community’s future. The baron, who was historically an influential person in Roma communities across the world, is now losing his authority. A number of Roma people in Georgia told OC Media this is because people want to live freely, without reporting to anyone

Armenia

Armenian–Azerbaijani families — wishing the good times were back

by Gita Elibekyan

•6 min read

While the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh rages on, mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani families in Georgia continue to thrive. Such families face many difficulties — not least their inability to travel to each others’ countries — and wish for more peaceful times to return. [Read in Armenian — Հոդվածը հայերեն կարդացեք] There are no figures on the number of Armenian–Azerbaijani couples in Georgia, but anecdotally, such families are not hard to find. Some were formed before, and some even after the c

Armenia

‘If war breaks out again, I will go’ — the polarisation of young Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Georgia

by Gita Elibekyan

•5 min read

Despite Georgia’s attempts to better integrate and include ethnic minorities, young ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the country are becoming more politically invested in the affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan than in their Georgian homeland. ‘If war breaks out again, I will go [to war]. There is no difference; I am an ethnic Azerbaijani too. It is not important for me if we live in Georgia or wherever else we go. My brothers are living there, they are in my heart’, young Azerbaija

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