Links to Further Reading about Pankisi Gorge and Georgia
Democracy & Freedom Watch articles
Chechen refugees feel harassed by Georgian counterintelligence (January 27, 2014)
Why were youth fighting in Georgia’s Pankisi Valley? (August 19, 2013)
New York Times articles (Olympics)
An Olympics in the Shadow of a War Zone (February 5, 2014)
A Swift and Fatal Luge Plunge, and Then an Abyss of Sorrow (February 1, 2014)
Remembering Nodar Kumaritashvili, the young Georgian Olympian who died in a luge crash before the 2010 Olympics
Remembering Nodar Kumaritashvili, the young Georgian Olympian who died in a luge crash before the 2010 Olympics
Islam in Pankisi Gorge
"The female Sufi mystics of the Pankisi Gorge" by Tara Isabella Burton looks at the changing face of Islam in Pankisi Gorge by focusing on a group of women keeping alive the Sufi musical tradition of the zikr. The article includes slideshows of life in and around the town of Duisi and of a zikr ritual there. Also linked in the article is this two and a half minute YouTube video of parts of a zikr recital in Pankisi: "Zikr: Introduction".
The article includes a nice portrait of a women elder in Duisi, Makvala Margoshvili, who is called by her childhood nickname, Badi, and who is instrumental in keeping the traditional zikr alive in Pankisi.
The article also highlights Muslim peace efforts in the region.
The article includes a nice portrait of a women elder in Duisi, Makvala Margoshvili, who is called by her childhood nickname, Badi, and who is instrumental in keeping the traditional zikr alive in Pankisi.
The article also highlights Muslim peace efforts in the region.
