PRESS RELEASE
Council of Armenian Non-Governmental Organizations
of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region in Georgia
Akhalkalak, Samtskhe-Javakheti
Georgia
Contact: Khatchatur Stepanian
Tel: (+995 99) 93-75-61
E-mail: mail@a-info.org
Web:

Integration, not Assimilation:
Samtskhe-Javakhketi NGOs hold their first public forum

AKHALKALAK (A-Info) – The first public forum organized by the Council of
Armenian non-governmental organizations (NGO) of the Samtskhe-Javakhketi
region, was held on December 11 in Akhalkalak to discuss the
socio-economic issues of the region. The subsequent public forums are to
discuss issues related to culture and self-governance.

The public forums are titled “Integration, not Assimilation,” as the
Armenians of the region do not oppose the integration within Georgia,
but defy the “integration” policy of Georgia’s central government
leading to assimilation.

Representatives of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, the European Commission, the Council of Europe,
foreign ambassadors, ethnic Armenian and Georgian members of the
Georgian parliament as well as Georgian government officials were
invited to attend the public forum. Most of those high-ranking
officials, however, did not attend the public forum. Only Beatrice
Schulterier, the representative in Georgia of the OSCE High Commissioner
on National Minorities, and Michael Hertoft, the Akhalkalak project
manager of the European Centre for Minority Issues were present. Also
attending were members of local self-governing bodies, local
intellectuals and representatives of NGOs from the region, as well as
from Tbilisi and Yerevan,

Georgian parliament’s ethnic Armenian members, elected from the region,
also did not attend the public forum. Instead they chose to attend a
convention of one of the Armenian political parties in Yerevan.

Nevertheless, the public forum vividly discussed the issues on its
agenda.
Two reports were presented by experts on the socio-economic issues of
the region, Azat Shipaktsian and Artashes Palanjian, who stated that the
region has found itself in a difficult socio-economic state due to the
discriminatory policies of the central government of Georgia. They also
noted that the funds donated by international donors were not evenly
dispersed when it comes to the Armenian population of the region.

Following the reports, the participants expressed their opinions
regarding the socio-economic problems of the region, in fact asserting
the opinions expressed by the rapporteurs.

At the end of the discussions, the public forum adopted a resolution on
the socio-economic situation of Samtskhe-Javakhketi (the resolution is
attached), and recommended to the Council to establish a commission to
work out a program for socio-economic development of the
Samtskhe-Javakhketi region.

RESOLUTION

Adopted by the “Integration, not Assimilation” Public Forum on
Socio-economic Issues of Samtskhe-Javakhketi, Akhalkalak, 11 December
2004

Aiming:

* To contribute to resolution of the socio-economic issues of
Samtskhe-Javakhketi;
* To contribute to the improvement of the socio-economic situation of
Georgia through improvement of the socio-economic situation in
Samtskhe-Javakhketi and mitigation of the demographic problems, and to
emphasize the necessity of reforms and their equal implementation on the
basis of regions and ethnicity;
* To contribute to Georgia’s internal integration, internal political
stability and strengthening of democratic values through socio-economic
reforms in Samtskhe-Javakhketi;
* Based on a number of factual factors, such as the demographic picture
of the region and the common borders with Armenia, to contribute to
perceive the resolution of Samtskhe-Javakheti’s socio-economic problems
as the best possible model for regional integration and friendship
between the nations;
* To contribute to the real process of Georgia’s and South Caucasus’
integration into Europe, to participate in the fulfilment of Georgia’s
commitments before the international (European) community, and to make
sure that every citizen gets a share of the positive results of the
process;

Taking into consideration the opinions and ideas expressed in reports
and debates, the Public Forum states that:

* Samtskhe-Javakhketi falls considerably behind the country’s other
regions in its human development indicators;
* The unemployment rate is way too high, resulting in emigration. There
are no equal conditions in filling job vacancies; the region, and
especially the Armenian-populated areas, are not included in any
realizable social and employment projects;
* The health system is deteriorated. There are no functioning medical
ambulatories in the villages. The few district hospitals are poorly
equipped and are far from satisfying the minimum needs of the
population;
* The population’s social security is on a low level. Salaries and
pensions, which are significantly less than the consumer’s basket, are
not paid on time;
* The escalating poverty is accompanied by rising social inequality;
there is a sharp polarization of income;
* There is no functioning stable system (fuel, heating, drinking water
and other utilities) to support the population’s livelihood. The issue
of heating is especially acute in Akhalkalak and Ninotsminda;
* Roads connecting the region with Tbilisi, with the coastal and other
regions of Georgia, as well as with Armenia are damaged and in desperate
shape. In even worse shape are the local and village roads. This
situation creates insurmountable difficulties for the socio-economic
development, as well as for the economic integration of the region;
* The country’s energy crisis is felt especially harsh in the region;
the burden of these difficulties is not equally spread and Javakheti is
again penalized. The fact that the region is distant and mountainous is
neglected;
* Except for one or two cases, there are no telephone networks in the
villages. The situation is not much different in the towns. The
situation is the same for the spheres of electronic communications and
TV broadcasting;
* The agricultural and the industrial sectors are paralyzed. In the
economic and especially in the agricultural sector, many development
possibilities are neglected, even though the region’s agriculture plays
an important role in Georgia’s economy. The almost entirely agricultural
region has no irrigation network. The break up of the economic
infrastructure, the rarity or unavailability of fuel and energy supplies
seriously hinder the processing and selling of natural resources and
agricultural provisions.
* The corruption that exists in the whole country is accentuated in the
region. The reforms proclaimed in the country have not reached the
region yet. As a result there is a public perception that corruption is
not only allowed, but also encouraged;
* The region is pushed to artificial demographic changes which could
result in escalation of tension in ethnic relations and instability. It
is odd, that the authorities organize the immigration of other ethnic
groups to the region and provide them with socio-economic assistance,
while the locals are deprived of such assistance;
* The participation of national minorities in the public-political life
of the country and in formulating socio-economic policies is not
ensured.

The Public Forum, being concerned that:

* The policies being realized by the authorities in the spheres of
state-building, economy, social issues, national minority rights and
demographic issues could undermine Georgia’s image in the international
arena and the development of democracy in the country;
* Unresolved socio-economic and other issues could hinder the
integration of the ethnic minorities;
* The delay in resolving the accumulated problems could raise new and
undesirable tensions;
* The existing tense and explosive situation is aggravated by the
nationalistic and intolerant propaganda by some media outlets and
public-political organizations;

Considers it essential:

* To regard job creation, development of transportation and other
infrastructure (gas pipelines, water lines, irrigation systems,
telecommunications, etc.) as the main route to resolve the region’s
socio-economic problems;
* To completely repair – with internal and external resources — all
highways connecting the region to the coastal areas of Georgia, to
Tbilisi and to Armenia, as well as the internal roads connecting the
villages;
* To equally distribute the burden of the energy hardships between the
regions; to resolve the energy problems using local resources
(Taparvan);
* To expand the telephone network in the villages, ensure quality and
affordable telecommunications;
* To build a modern telecommunications transmitter;
* To create conditions for processing the agricultural products in the
region, implementing of new technologies in agriculture, resolving the
irrigation problems;
* To establish branches of large (including foreign) banks, financial
and credit institutions and to extend loans by them to small and
medium-sized businesses;
* To restore the health system (hospitals, emergency rooms, village
medical ambulatories);
* To renovate and operate the Akhalkalak airport;
* To take steps to create, empower and sustain a tolerant inter-ethnic
environment;
* To take measures to avert the artificial alteration of the demographic
picture of the region, which would endanger the stability of the region;
* To engage the local residents, workforce and potential in the
international economic processes underway in the region;
* To cooperate with international organizations dealing with democracy,
human rights, human development and economic integration; to involve
them actively in resolving the fundamental problems of
Samtskhe-Javakhketi, to ensure fair distribution between regions of
credit and grant funds provided by international organizations;

The Public Forum resolves:

* To recommend to the Council of Armenian non-governmental organizations
(NGO) of the Samtskhe-Javakhketi region to form an expert group in
charge of elaborating and presenting a comprehensive program for the
region’s socio-economic development based on the abovementioned
imperatives;
* To appeal once again to the Georgian central authorities and to the
relevant local self-governing bodies, expecting a multilateral
discussion of the issues in question and their resolution with state
solicitude;
* To appeal to international institutions, donor countries and
organizations, expecting their input in drawing up and implementing
concrete projects aimed at completely or partially resolving the issues
raised;
* To appeal to the Georgian non-governmental organizations and mass
media expecting them to focus on the mentioned issues, to develop
relevant public opinion, to contribute to the efficiency of the
governmental bodies, as well as to assist in engaging the business
community and individual businessmen in resolving the problems raised;
* Based on the centuries-long friendship between the Armenian and
Georgian peoples as well as the good neighbourly high-level relations
between the two states, and aiming at furthering those relations with
practical steps, to appeal to the Armenian non-governmental
organizations to assist in involving the Armenian business community, as
well as individual businessmen and other interested structures in
resolving the issues raised.