From The History Of Kutaisi Press

(Newspaper “Our Country” In The Years Of The Democratic Republic)

Abstract

The strong group of the national-democrat party settled in Kutaisi. Its periodic organ “Our Country” issued in 1917-19. The newspaper gives a clear picture of a political, social-economic situation in the country.

It’s not possible to highlight all the issues discussed in the newspaper in one article. In this case, we will talk about the most important events, which played a big role in the history of our country and see how they are viewed and appreciated in the newspaper editions.

“Our Country” expresses a great joy regarding declaring independence of Georgia, returning autocephalous status of the church. On January 26 the newspaper highlights the establishment of Tbilisi State University, which is one of the most important deliverables of democratic Georgia.

During the 3 years’ existence of democratic Georgia, one of the most important problems was improving the economic conditions. Georgian media, including periodic editions of Kutaisi, actively described the hard economic and financial conditions of the region.

The most important problem of democratic Georgia was establishing legislation organ - Founding Board. Founding Board should have been a more legitimate and elective organ than the parliament established based on the national board. Press became extremely active during the election period. Participant parties mostly held their agitations with the newspaper. The newspapers clearly expressed the positions of their parties and harshly criticized the action programs of opposing parties.“Our Country” discussed the main issues of the national-democratic party regarding solidification of the country’s political independence and founding stable democratic institutions.

The newspaper intensively highlighted the strategic issues of the national-democratic party for Kutaisi audiences, e.g. territorial conflict in South Georgia; threats within the country. In the rubric “Bolshevik preparations” - the newspaper highlighted the protest rallies inspired by bolsheviks in Ratcha, Satchkhere, Letchkhumi and other regions.

The press played a big role in establishing democratic Georgia including the active newspapers from Kutaisi.