Live news available for the Georgian population of Azerbaijani and Armenian origin

From now on, live news Moambe on Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB) at 6 and 8 pm is available for Georgia’s ethnic Azerbaijani and Armenian population, who previously had no such service.

The initiators of the innovation stressed it was a “unique approach” in the whole region and in the post-Soviet space.

The project has been implemented through the financial support of the United States (US) Embassy to Georgia and was carried out by GPB and Georgia’s Regional Broadcasting Association.

The project allowed Moambe to give a chance to viewers - during certain hours - to make a choice between Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian languages.

There will be sound tracks for Moambe at 6 pm and 8 pm and viewers can press a button and select the language they wish to listen in.

“This will be a chance for ethnic minorities to receive information in real time and not afterwards through various sources. The process will also increase the GPB accessibility to all viewers,” US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly said after the presentation of the project.

Director General of GPB, Giorgi Baratashvili, said it was “a very ambitious” project, requiring significant efforts to be carried out.

He said that GPB wanted to add the Abkhazian and Russian languages to the list in the future.

The head of Georgia’s Broadcasting Association, Natia Kuprashvili, said the project “would fill the information gap between ethnic minorities and the rest of the Georgian population, and would avoid the controversies caused by the lack of or wrong information.”

The latest census conducted in Georgia in 2014 read 3,713, 804 people live in Georgia. Out of this number, the Azerbaijanii origin population was 233,000 - more than other ethnic minorities living in Georgia - and 168,000 of Armenian origin.

Georgia’s ethnic minorities should have the opportunity to listen to the news in their mother tongue and be aware of the situation in the country. Meanwhile Georgia should increase its efforts to teach properly Georgian language to every Georgian citizen so that to achieve their full integration into society

Informing the population means giving them a chance to make independent decisions.

Herewith, such projects should also be encouraged that will enable ethnic minorities living in Georgia to study the Georgian language, as this is also crucial for their full integration in all the processes.