Competition Status – Participant
Competition Status – Participant
The village of Karajala is fairly typical of the dozens of settlements populated by Muslim Azerbaijanis that stretch southeast between Tbilisi and Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan. It’s a place of relative prosperity, where men drink tea in chaikhanas and women in colorful headscarves patrol large domestic compounds. But 100 years ago, it was the site of a remarkable world first. Records recently unearthed by historian Irakli Khvadagiani show that in 1918, Karajala was the first place in the world to democratically elect a Muslim woman. The story of Parikhanum Sofieva reflects the great promise and horrendous losses Georgia experienced in the first half of the 20th century.