Throughout the Caucasus, many believe that the community in which you were born determines who you are and what you become. But three ethnic Azerbaijani women in Georgia have found ways to defy those barriers and to craft their own identities as independent professionals. 

Aida Tagiyeva, 29, Actress

Aida Tagiyeva is one of just three female actresses who make up the Heydar Aliyev Azerbaijani State Dramatic Theater’s 11-person ensemble. Some people in Georgia’s ethnic Azerbaijani community, she says, believe that, as a woman, she shouldn’t be there at all.

“Society does not normally accept a woman actress who performs in the theaters,” she says of these individuals. “They accuse us of immorality because of our work.”

With that mentality in mind, the ensemble censors some of its performances, often leaving out love scenes. But the Tbilisi-born Tagiyeva, who has been acting with the Azerbaijani State Dramatic Theater since she was 16, sees no reason to go still further and retire from the stage.

Rather, she believes, the problem lies elsewhere. “There is no culture of theaters” among those Azerbaijani Georgians who adhere to conservative, patriarchal norms, she charges. “People don’t like plays which will make them think and enlighten them. It’s very hard to force a society which does not like reading to love theaters.”

Attendance at the theater’s performances is sparse, Tagiyeva claims – anywhere from five to 40 people. With their own building in disrepair, the ensemble, who create their own costumes to save money, must instead perform in various other Tbilisi theaters.  

The theater, though, has not been this young woman’s only stage. With friends, Tagiyeva, who has a degree in broadcast journalism, co-founded in 2015 a website, Rennesans.ge, to cover Georgian politics and social issues.  “This website gave a voice to the society we live in. We wanted somehow to change this society,” she says.

But backlash from the site’s publication of a cartoon that depicted young people with books walking out of an encaged mosque led to its closure after a year. Threatened by “radical Muslims,” Tagiyeva says she turned to the police. She ended the project after a year, but claims the cartoon was not the reason.

She has no plans to give up on the theater. Her identity is as an actress. Though the salaries are low (averaging between 250 and 300 laris, or $102-$122, per month), the ensemble puts their hearts into their performances, she says.

“In our theater, nobody works for money. The theater is our love. Despite the fact that it’s hard, we have to work hard in order to change our society.”

Kamilla Mammadova, 33, Journalist

Kamilla Mammadova did what many would love to do: she turned a hobby of listening to the radio into a career in her hometown. But, as the founder of Radio Marneuli, the only community radio station in southern Georgia’s predominantly ethnic Azerbaijani town of Marneuli, she has to assert her right to that career every day.  

Her station, established in 2006 as part of a BBC project, covers local news and issues in both Georgian and Azerbaijani. It emphasizes its editorial independence from any political influence and does not shy away from criticizing the government. An open-microphone policy allows anyone to come on air and discuss their grievances.

"There are many problems in our region. It was necessary to bring these problems to the public’s attention.”

For some in Marneuli, however, that spells trouble.

More traditionally minded individuals believe unmarried women -- particularly those seen as beyond the usual age of marriage -- should not assert themselves in public and challenge the government. Some have asked Mammadova to respect these customs, she says.

"They call me lesbian, immoral,” Mammadova comments. “By using such slander, they try to prevent me from providing accurate information. But this will not happen. I'm a human being and, as a journalist, I will continue to convey the truth."

Mammadova, who holds a double degree in journalism and law, describes her aim as encouraging ethnic Azerbaijanis to speak Georgian and use their knowledge of current affairs to hold the government accountable to voters.

But doing so required a struggle. Radio Marneuli only received an FM license in 2016.

The Georgian National Communications Commission attributed the delay to technical reasons. Mammadova contends the station’s editorial independence and Azerbaijani-language broadcasts made officials wary.

She believes they still may be, but intends to persevere:  “[W]e are free and we bring the truth to people." 

Samira Ismayilova, 27, Politician

As the first ethnic Azerbaijani woman in Georgia to head a district branch of a major political party, Samira Ismayilova is used to standing out. But in conservative rural communities in her native district of Bolnisi, that can be a potential handicap. 

Ismayilova, a member of the opposition United National Movement, claims that threats (including by one armed man) and slander about her personal life dogged her 2016 campaign for parliament -- part of a broader attempt “to cover up female politicians” and “scare me out of the campaign,” she alleges.  

That attitude can be common in Georgia in “areas where ethnic minorities live,” she asserts.  “[A]n Azerbaijani woman who has been active in politics in our region is almost never seen.”

But Ismayilova wants to change that.

Born in the ethnic Azerbaijani village of Darbazi in Bolnisi, Ismayilova, partly educated abroad, first got involved in politics as a student at Tbilisi’s Georgian Technical University.  After an internship in parliament, she began working as an adviser on ethnic minorities to the education ministry and, later, to former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Her next step was to become a politician herself. “As a citizen and mother, I want to see a more developed Georgia . . ." she says. Her 2016 bid for parliament failed, but she now sits on the town council of Bolnisi, seat of the homonymous district.  

She describes her work as visiting ethnic Azerbaijani villages and listening to residents’ problems with infrastructure, unemployment, education. She tries to prevent early marriages and to prompt ethnic Azerbaijani women to speak out and campaign for change themselves.

Whether her efforts will succeed is unclear, but Ismayilova keeps her focus on the future.

“I believe I can change many things by using my power as a politician.”

Text: Nurana Mammad

Photo : Ian Mcnaught Davis & Elene Shengelia

  July 2018, Identity Edition