6
POLITICS
GEORGIA TODAY
DECEMBER 1 - 4, 2017
Israel & the South Caucasus anti-tank missiles helped Azerbaijani forces thwart that counterattack. This brings us to Israel-Azerbaijani relations. In late 2016, reports were circulated that Baku was planning to buy Israeli “Iron Dom” capabilities to better counter potential Armenian attacks. Beyond those military ties, Azerbaijan has also been important to Israel for its large natural resources and how the country could potentially, in case of need, become Israel’s major oil-supplier. Thus, Israel’s relations with each of the three South Caucasian states depends on specific economic and military interests. Each of the states has different relations with larger neighbors such as Russia or Turkey, and the Israeli diplomacy has to navigate in this difficult political arena, where a misstep could deteriorate Israel’s ties
Photo source: The Huffington Post
BY EMIL AVDALIANI
T
o ordinary observers, the South Caucasus region might not appear high in Israel’s foreign policy agenda. First, the geographic distance matters as none of the three states, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, border on Israel itself. Moreover, the region is also a hotbed of ethnic fighting with three ongoing separatist conflicts in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh further complicating political stability. However, the South Caucasus’ strategic location, which lies between Central Asia and eastern Europe, and connects Russia with the Middle East, has drawn a number of regional players to seek larger influence on the territory. Those regional players are usually Turkey, Russia and the European Union and this, by virtue of logic, would negate any potential influence Israel could have in the region. Over the past year, Israel has intensified its foreign policy moves towards each of the South Caucasian states. Each country is interesting to Israel for specific reasons. For example, with Georgia, Israel had had extensive military contacts when the Georgian army was largely supplied with specific Israeli military technologies before 2008. However, the Russo-Georgian war in August 2008 stopped Israeli exports as Russia was particularly angry at having a small neighbor with muchadvanced military capabilities.
Beyond military ties, Georgia is also interesting for Israel from the economic point of view: Israeli investments play an important role in Georgia’s economy. Moreover, due to its geopolitically important location, Georgia has several large ports on its Black Sea shore which could easily be used for commercial and military purposes. With Armenia, Israeli’s relations have been somewhat distant over the past decade or so. This largely conditioned Israel’s rather intensive ties with Yerevan's two biggest geopolitical rivals, Azerbaijan and Turkey. However, recently, there was a certain shift in the bilateral relations when a senior Israeli official visited Yerevan. Tsachi Hanegbi, Israel's Minister for Regional Cooperation, visited Armenia on July 25-26 for talks with senior Armenian officials. Hanegbi has been a key figure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party and has held various ministerial positions for the past two decades. Hanegbi said that his visit was intended as a step forward in relations to make Armenia-Israeli “friendship mutually beneficial in many fields.” What is more important it was the first visit by a senior Israeli official to Armenia since 2012. One of the major bones of contention between Armenia and Israel has been Israeli-supplied arms to Azerbaijan. The supplies played an important role in last year's “April war” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. After Azerbaijan took several frontline posts in a surprise attack on April 2, 2016, Armenian forces undertook a counteroffensive. But Israeli-supplied Harop suicide drones and Spike
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Support Devi’s Right to Stay in Georgia INTERVIEW BY TOM DAY
D
evi Asmadiredja was born in Germany, but chose to come to Georgia in May 2011. She has very rarely left since then, and now calls Georgia home. She originally came to experience the Caucasus mountains and “almost instantly felt in love with the places, the people and the nature.” Since 2013, Devi has been working as a tour guide, taking groups into the mountain villages to truly discover the Georgian region of the Caucasus, to meet Georgian people, learn about Georgian culture and spread the word about this small but rich and diverse hidden gem. In 2015, Devi even introduced Georgia to Indonesia. In cooperation with the Georgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and with her own photos about Georgia in Jakarta, she introduced what had become "her country" to the place where her Father’s side of the family came from. As well as all of this, she has a Georgian partner and lives with his family. Devi's recent request for residency was rejected without the responsible administration and court giving a clear reason. A petition to the President has been started and needs as many signatures as she can get. “[For the] first time in my life, I have the feeling I belong somewhere. Everybody should have a place to feel home, and for me its Georgia. People here accept me as I am. I never really felt at home in Germany. For me, it’s like taking my life away from me, if I cannot stay officially on a residence permit here. Who knows when the law will be changed again. I worry about it.” Georgia Today arranged to meet Devi to find out more.
WHY DO YOU WANT PERMANENT RESIDENCY? I am so much in love with Georgia, its nature, its people, I can’t even imagine going anywhere else. I built my life here from scratch. For me, it’s not even about permanent residency, it’s not about residency at all, more so how they have handled the situation. The majority of my friends live here, I know the land, the people and how life works here.
WHAT CAN YOU OFFER GEORGIA/ WHAT HAVE YOU ALREADY GIVEN?
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with Turkey or Russia. However, beyond that there could also be another incentive as to why Israel’s diplomacy has become more active over the past year or so in regards to the South Caucasus. And the reason for this is Iran. Historically, from Achaemenids to the Sasanians and the 17th-18th centuries, Iran, under various dynasties, aspired to achieve a major role in the South Caucasus. When, after the Cold War, sanctions were placed against Tehran’s nuclear program, Iran was constrained in expanding its role in the above-mentioned region. One might think that Iran’s recent economic and diplomatic successes with regards to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia could have driven Israel’s quite diversified foreign policy towards each of the South Caucasus states.
I love Georgia, I consider it to be my home. I know its mountain regions well and have always been interested in the culture of mountain peoples – Kist, Tush, Khevsur. Over the years, I have gained lots of friends here and have many valuable contacts. But at the same time, I still come from Europe, have a European education, I know how European people think and what they are interested in. I have brought many tourists to Tusheti, Khevsureti, Pshavi, Vashlovani and Pankisi valley, and my knowledge and contacts allow me to show them [the] kind of Georgia that bigger operators cannot show or do not want to show, because it involves too much work or too little money for them. But for me, meeting normal people in the countryside and mountains, seeing their life, experiencing their openness is the only way to truly learn about Georgian culture, to truly feel the Georgian spirit. Because my tours go out of the beaten track, many travel writers come to me for information – this year for example, National Geographic and Tim Burford, Bradt Travel Guide Georgia, Constanze John Ger-
many and Eva Dietrich, Travel writer from Switzerland have all contacted me regarding my knowledge in these areas. This in turn brings in more tourists. Everyone wins from this, local people, small businesses, other tour operators. There are many wonderful fruits, berries and herbs that Georgians used in old times, but these traditions have now completely or mostly disappeared. I am trying to bring to life the local production and distribution of such produce, as well as other natural products. It would complement the local tourist and catering business and offer additional income to people who live in more remote villages. Together with my friends, I also started an initiative we named Care2Clean-Up, to deal with the issue of trash that for me and for many of my clients and visitors is one of the biggest problems in Georgia.
TELL ME ABOUT THE EXHIBITION IN JAKARTA, INDONESIA The exhibition was organized and sponsored by the Georgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. I went to Jakarta for 10 days in May 2015, which was like a dream. I hadn’t expected to ever go there from Georgia, and I was happy to present my photos in a solo exhibition.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IF YOU CANNOT GET RESIDENCY? I will keep fighting for it, but it takes a lot of energy out of me, which I could better use to promote Georgia. There is always the option to stay on a visa in Georgia, but I want some stability in my life. There was the change in visa rules in 2014, where people who had no residency could only stay three months in a half year period. In autumn 2014, I got my first temporary residence permit, and the second in 2015, which expired in February of this year.
IN YOUR ATTEMPTS SO FAR, WHAT RESPONSES HAVE YOU RECEIVED FROM THE PRESIDENT? I applied last year for Georgian citizenship, I had many good recommendations and documents, and got denied. For a German citizen, gaining Georgian citizenship means losing the German one, because Germany doesn’t accept dual citizenship. I was prepared for this, even if all my friends said I was crazy. I applied directly to the President, but I think the application never reached his office. I feel sad and lost. My life is here, [for the] first time in my life I have the feeling I belong somewhere, everybody should have a place to call home, and for me its Georgia. For me, it’s like taking my life away if I cannot stay officially on a residence permit here. Who knows when the law will be changed again.
ANYTHING EXTRA TO SAY? After getting that many signatures in so short a time, I am overwhelmed. I want to say thank you to everybody who cares about me. Getting so much support from all over the world, and in Georgia as well, bring tears to my eyes. I felt so alone, now I know I am not.