Georgian authorities dismantle Armenian “genocide” monument – agency

Arminfo, Yerevan
23 Apr 04

AKHALKALAKI

At about 2100 local time [1600 gmt] yesterday, employees of the
regional police of the town of Akhaltsikhe dismantled a khachkar
[cross-stone], which had been installed on top of a hill in the
vicinity of the town. According to A-Info news agency, the khachkar
was installed to commemorate the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide
in Ottoman Turkey. A solemn ceremony to unveil it was to be held on
the genocide day – 24 April.

According to the report, before dismantling the khachkar, the
policemen detained the head of the organizational committee for
installing the khachkar, Lyudvig Petrosyan, and set him free after
holding him at the police station for four hours. According to
Petrosyan, the khachkar was dismantled on direct orders from the
Georgian president’s plenipotentiary representative in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region, Nikoloz Nikolozashvili, “in connection with
the absence of permission to install it”. However, Petrosyan insists
that the Akhaltsikhe mayor’s office had earlier given permission to
install the khachkar.

Akhaltsikhe residents are planning to hold a protest rally on 23 April
in connection with the incident, A-Info news agency reports.