Tank Battallion Mutinies and Cheese Pies

Gamarjobat from Tbilisi! It has been quite a while since the last e-mail, when I was back in southeastern Turkey. I don't really know how I will fit everything I want to talk about since then into one e-mail and remain sane, so we'll just see how this goes. Bear with me if this is disconnected.

After Van, I took a bus to Istanbul to kick it with Turan and my other pals there, to do some laundry, and to take a break from being constantly on the move. After a few days there I went to Ankara, the capital, where I have another good friend, Elif, whom I met the first time I was in Turkey. Her university, ODTU, is the largest in Turkey, and that week they were having a four-day 'Spring Festival', with musicians and DJs from all over Turkey presenting on several stages --- for those of you from UBC, imagine Arts County Fair for 4 days in a row. Dylan made it out of Iraq unscathed and I convinced him to come across the country to join the party. It was an amazing time, I met so many great people and made a lot of friends. It was a really great change of pace from wandering around the Middle East to just go and rock out for a while. Ankara is usually touted as being a pretty crappy place overall, as far as Turkish cities go --- over and over I have heard people tell me that the best part about Ankara is the fact that you can leave Ankara very easily. It is certainly nothing compared to Istanbul --- it really only became a big city with the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 when Ataturk proclaimed it as the new capital, so it all feels very new and stale --- but after my time there it really has a new place in my heart.

This of course made getting up and leaving again quite difficult. Dylan and I finally dragged our asses out of the comfort of our friends' home and got on the road. We headed north to the town of Safranbolu, which is one of the last towns in Turkey that is still comprised primarily of Ottoman houses over 100 years old. The whole village winds around a small river that has cut cliffs around it, making for an extremely beautiful location. From Safranbolu we shot north to the Black Sea Coast, which we traversed the entire way to Trabzon, the largest city in Turkey's northeast. This took quite a bit longer than we imagined it would, as the road along the Black Sea is probably up there with one of the most beautiful parts of the country that I have seen, but it is small and winding, and the coast is made up of cliffs interspersed with valleys into the sea every few kilometers, meaning that you have to wind up and down, up and down. Because of this no big buses traverse the route, so you have to hop from town to town by minibus. It therefore took us about 8 hours to go 150 km one day, and the same the second, which left us stranded in some cool small villages a few nights along the way. This would have been quite fine and relaxing, except for the fact that my Turkish visa was about to expire, and I was worried that I would get stranded on the coast before I could get out of the country or extend it. Luckily I found a government office in one of the towns, that, as far as I can tell, gave me an extra 3 months on my visa free of charge.

Trabzon is Turkey's main Black Sea port, and they recieve many ships from Georgia, Russia, and the Ukraine. There are therefore a lot of Russians in Trabzon, and some quarters of town are entirely Russian. Turkish men seem to have a fetish for Russian women, so there are many Russian prostitutes in Trabzon, called Natashas. And, of course, the place where all the cheap hotels for budget travelers like ourselves is where all the Natashas like to hang out. We checked out some exceptionally sketchy hotels, mostly with the windows blacked out. In the bars of Trabzon - where I got to use my few Russian phrases that I learned in Central Asia - the only females are Natashas --- who I must say are not attractive in the slightest. When you go to the bathroom, they follow you in, and sort of stand there looking in the mirror, pretending to powder their face or whatever, and when you leave you get the great pleasure of having disappointed a Natasha... Needless to say, we skipped out on any of the Russian action. We also met up with an Aussie named Dan, who was heading to Georgia, as we were, so we joined up with him, and from Trabzon hopped on the bus to Batumi, a large Georgian Black Sea port city.

Georgia, or Sakartvelo, as it is called by Georgians, is very different from Turkey. It is a Christian nation that used to be part of the USSR. I immediately felt like I was in Central Asia again when I arrived, and many of the classic characteristics that I encountered in the Stans are present here: a disconcerting lack of manhole covers, old run-down buildings that seem to be permanently 'under construction', a proclivity for alcohol, and a lot of Russian. But there are many differences as well. Georgia feels in many ways like it is less of a backwater and moving forward more quickly than the Central Asian nations. And this is all quite surprising considering that 10 months ago they were engaged with Russia, and, in several of the Georgians' whom I have spoken with's opinions, are on the brink of war again. It has its extreme poverty and corruption, but to a seemingly lesser degree. From what I can tell this is mostly due to the nation's post-soviet history, which I have been piecing together slowly:

Georgia was one of the first Soviet states to declare independence from the Soviet Union, however when they did so, the same fate befell them that did the Stans --- a government rose that was not entirely prepared for independence and was mostly based on the old Soviet cronies that ran the place before hand anyways. Corruption was the name of the game and the nation descended into what was in many ways a worse state than it had been in before the Soviet Union collapsed. Two regions of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - seceded from the state and declared themselves autonomous (though no nation except Russia acknowledges their independence), and the country fell into civil war, in which Abkhazia and South Ossetia were backed by Russian 'peace keeping' troops. In the Abkhazian case, Abkhazians are ethnically different from Georgians; and during the wars over 250 000 Georgians were pushed out of their homes and forced to retreat from Abkhazia. Russia offers Abkhazians free Russian citizenship. The situation is similar in South Ossetia as well.

The first president of Georgia was deposed in a coup and a fellow name Shevardnadze took his place in 1995. Under him a lot more fighting took place in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Another region of Georgia, Adjara, tried to declare autonomy, and its political leader, who was tight with the former government, openly disobeyed and insulted Shevardnadze. From what I understand, the whole country was mob-heavy, and the police were incredibly corrupt, much like Central Asia today. In 2003 there were massive protests by people fed up with the situation, and there was another coup called the Rose Revolution, in which masses of people stormed parliament holding roses, and Shevardnadze was forced to resign and go into exile. The leader of the Rose Revolution was Mikheil Saakashvili (called Misha by the people), who holds presidency today. He immediately stood up to the leader in Adjara who had been giving Shevardnadze trouble, and that guy (I cannot remember his name) fled to Russia --- allowing Saakashvili to make a very powerful first impression. He cracked down on the mob and police corruption - and indeed, today, I have recieved absolutely no hassle from the police at all. As a matter of fact, this is the only country on this entire trip where I have been straight up ignored by the police and not drawn any attention at all! There was minimal silly beauracracy to enter the country --- I didnt even need a visa to come.

So Saakashvili significantly transformed the country, but there was a major difference from him and Shevardnadze. While Shev maintained good political relations with both Russia and the States, Misha openly dislikes the Russians and has very strong relations with the Americans. A Georgian friend of mine, who I met in Cairo, put it quite succinctly to me: "It is just stupid. Sure, you may not like Russia, but you cannot just stick your middle finger to them and say fuck you, they are our neighbour and they are massive. They could destroy us easily."

And unfortunately, Misha has been sticking his middle finger to Russia, who has very cold relations with Georgia and supports the separatist states. In August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia. The cause of this war is still under investigation by international monitors who are in the country right now, but the movement of the fighting outside of the separatist states seems to have been triggered by the movement of the Georgian army into South Osettia in early August. The war ended rather quickly --- officially at least. The fighting still continues in South Osettia, and a Georgian fellow that I met who was working as a UN monitor told me that he would not be surprised if more open war opened up soon. The whole situation has made a large portion of the population very unhappy with Saakashvili, whom they blame for the war, and protests are underway right now in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. Starting over a month ago, opposition groups demanded that Saakashvili resign, and set up mock prison cells in Tbilisi's main street, Rustaveli Ave, in front of parliament, which they have been living in. Hundreds of cells now fill Rustaveli Ave, and cars cannot drive down it, meaning that traffic is really bad in other parts of town as people try to go around this main throughfare. It is quite a sight to see, though I cannot help but feel that the protest is losing a bit of its oomph after over a month... though the cells are all there, not all of them seem to be inhabited anymore, and the times that I have been through to check it out, things have been pretty quiet. Also, Misha is not budging yet, and apparently there is no real strong contender for oppositions leader, so everyone seems quite skeptical of the demonstrations' outcome. Many of Tbilisi's citizens are getting quite fed up with the road being closed as well, and the other day I saw some taxi drivers yelling at the protesters. Tuesday is Georgia's independence day, however, and apparently the protestors are trying to get people from all over the country to come and make a big demonstration.

Another interesting piece of the story lately is that a few weeks ago a tank battallion at a military base north of the city mutineed against the government, and was supposedly going to take forceful action against. Saakashvili very quickly put down the mutiny however by moving in with a large force of tanks and troops loyal to him, sending 3 ringleaders of the mutiny running. Rather conveniently, there was a video recovered of these people dicussing their plot. Posters of their faces offering a large reward are everywhere in Georgia, and two nights ago the main guy was found and shot dead, while the other two were injured and captured. Skeptics claim that the whole thing was a fake set up by the government in order to make an impression and draw attention away from the protests, and to demonstrate that Misha is still the 'strong man'. My friend that I met in Cairo agrees with this, saying that it is all to common and convenient that the government 'finds' video evidence of people admitting or discussing this or that, leading to their persecution.

And so, what have Dan, Dylan, and I been doing in Georgia during this time? We spent the first two days in Batumi, which is Georgia's resort town, overflowing with tourists in the summer. It was quite quiet this time of the year however. We did a beach day, in which I aquired probably the worst sun burn I have ever had. A week after the fact my whole upper body is peeling and still burning, so I look like I have leprosy or something.

From Batumi we took a bus to Gori, which is the home town of Joseph Stalin himself (Stalin was Georgian). All around the city are large statues of the great Soviet dictator, and there is a large museum dedicated to all the great things he did (skipping the Gulags and forced migrations of course). It is also the town where Data, my friend whom I met in Cairo lives, so we met up with him and his friends and spent some very good times together.

Gori was attacked by the Russians last August, and in the was museum there are the remains of two bombs that struck a large appartment building and the main square where a very large Stalin stands. Many people were killed. Data was in town during the attack and remembers being woken up by the bomb blasts and seeing everyone running around screaming in the middle of the night. Shortly after, the Russians occupied Gori. Data's view on things, however, is that the war is entirely political and not personal. He is very frustrated with Georgia's anti Russian sentiment - he has many Russian friends. He says that even when Gori was occupied, the Russian soldiers slept in the hallways of the appartment flats, when they could have very easily kicked down civilian's doors and slept there. He remembers how his neighbour even let the soldiers sleeping in the hallway use her shower... Regardless, he fled to Tbilisi after the town was occupied; the Russians withdrew before they reached Tbilisi. I found it quite interesting to see that, even though many parts of Gori are quite run down, there was no immediately visible evidence of the intense fighting that occurred -- all the blast damage, which I was shown in pictures, has all been repaired. I get this sense all over the country: it doesnt FEEL like a country that was just at war 10 months ago. However, there are massive suburbs on the edge of town (and all around Georgia) of hundreds of small square houses, all exactly the same, lined up side by side, which have just been build in the past few months serving as homes for displaced peoples and people that lost their homes during the war.

After seeing Gori and its nearby sites with Data, we all went to Tbilisi, where we have been exploring this lovely city. It feels something like a Central Asian city with more life and energy. It is very green, and there are spectacular churches and old houses everywhere. It also has a lot of old dilapidated places, much like Central Asian cities. The Soviets seemed to really like massive parks with rides and big statues, most of which are today in quite a depressing state. Yesterday we did a day trip to the barren border with Azerbaijan, which looks a bit like Mars, where there are ancient monasteries cut into the rocks on mountains overlooking the Azeri wasteland, complete with an oild derricks in the distance. Another Georgian that I met in Cairo, Tato, lives in Tbilisi, and is the manager of Tbilisi's largest night club (the best night club in the Caucasus!, he boasts) and a bit of a TV celebrity, having played on Georgia's first ever Big Brother style reality show, and coming 2nd place. Tato gave us a tour and invited us to be VIP guests and a party at his club last night, which was quite cool. I am not much for clubs, but I definitely had a good time doing a little boogie until sunrise... Tomorrow we will leave Tbilisi to head to the Caucuses Mountains...

Random observations on Georgia:

-it is very warm and very green. absolutely gorgeous natural beauty

-Georgian history is intertwined with very cool legends of great kings who carried 2.5 m swords and fought all kinds of battles and great wars

-Georgian food is AMAZING. It is all quite similar to Central Asian food, but somehow they got it right and made things delicious. The most common food is little cheese pies called Khachapuris, that are available everywhere in many different forms. You can get round cheese pies, square cheese pies, cheese pies with cheese inside and then more cheese melted on top, cheese pies with cheese inside and and egg cooked on top... the cheese pies are ubiquitous. They also do delicious little deep friend meat pies and bean pies. There are dumplings called Khinkali that are filled with spiced pork and delicious juice, and Shashlyk, which is usually pork or beef barbequed to perfection on a stick. No mutton like in Central Asia! I am going to get terribly fat here I think. Georgians also love to drink, anywhere, and at all times of the day. People have beers in hand when they cruise the sidewalk in the morning, the guy behind the counter at a corner store will ofter be rocking a beer when you go to buy snacks, and people just sit around on the streets drinking ---- yet somehow it doesnt seem like a sad alcoholic sort of drinking, but more just a social, and socially accepted, activity. Georgians are famous for their wine, which rather than sipping, they chug after making lengthy toasts to each other. At a Georgian feast, which we had with Data and his friends in Gori, there is a designated toastmaster, and a man responsible for filling the wineglasses. Toasts are given by assigned people, and are often really lengthy and serious (Data says that some toasts can last up to an hour). After a while a ram's horn is brought out and people start slamming wine out of that... and then people start singing and dancing, and somehow get to bed and go to work the next day, because it doesnt matter what day of the week it is, its always time to feast and drink!

-Georgians have a unique and ancient language that is not related to any others that exist anymore, and they have their own unique script, which means I cant read anything here. Luckily some stuff is still in cyrillic from Soviet days, which I can somewhat read.

I have so much more to write (from Turkey and Georgia!), but I have been at this for far too long and am about to get kicked off the computer. I am off to do some hiking in the Caucasus for the next few days, but I will try to get on a computer again soon to tie up the loose ends and write more...

Until then though, I hope to hear from you and hear how things are going back at home! I miss you all.

All my love,Bryn