The village of Tsiteliubani, in the municipality of Gori, is the only village in which Ossetians and Georgians live together. They have no conflict with each other but accuse the Government of ignoring them. There is no water in the village so they cannot keep their families by engaging in agriculture. Nor are there any jobs. The residents are left without any income and are even thinking about leaving the village.
The village is under the control of the Georgian side. Villages controlled by occupiers surround it on three sides. During the war Tsiteliubani was not attacked, which the locals believe is because Ossetians also live in the village. 330 families lived there until 1993, most of them Ossetians, but due to the endless conflicts some have left the village and moved to Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz. 27 families who were housed there temporarily after the Adjara landslip have now settled in the village permanently.
Despite the fact the village is on the ‘border’ it was not included in those to be helped by the rehabilitation programme which followed the conflict of 2008. It has therefore received far less aid than some other villages. The Government has supported the inhabitants only in manufacturing and sowing grain, but Eter Gigauri , a local resident, points out that as there is no water in the village they cannot profit from such aid.
“It is impossible to cultivate wheat without water. The main water supply facility is in Tskhinvali and only villages controlled by the Ossetians are supplied with this water,” says Eter Gigauri. Neither can the villagers keep cattle. “we and the Ossetians have good mutual relations but to live here is very difficult. There are no pastures and we cannot afford to have more than one cow because we have to buy food for them and this is very expensive,” she says.
The problem of finding pasture began a year ago when the Municipality of Gori started to build a new road on the old pastures. Davit Khmiadashvili, Governor of Gori, says that building the new main road was agreed with the inhabitants and does not cause them any problems. “The Government takes care of the inhabitants of Tsiteliubani and if they are in very poor conditions they can address us and we will help them,” he says.
The locals are very dissatisfied with the fact that none of them are being employed building the road when unemployment is their main problem. “Road construction is underway near our village, they could employ us there, but they have not even taken on one inhabitant. This construction had destroyed our pastures but they even do not even offer us jobs instead. If this continues the inhabitants will leave the village very soon and the authorities should not be surprised if the occupiers take it away from us. Separatists surround the village and if they want to come and occupy the empty villages, who will stop them?” asks Eter Gigauri.
The inhabitants of Georgian-controlled villages in Shida Kartli are not very happy in general. They grumble about poor conditions and emptying villages. An empty village is an easy target for the enemy.
By Khatuna Noniashvili, translated from the Georgian edition of The Georgian Times newspaper
