Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 14 2005
Saakashvili Pledges Jobs for Akhalkalaki Residents after Russian Base
Withdrawal
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on March 14 that those
local residents of Akhalkalaki who are currently employed at the
Russian military bases stationed there will not remain unemployed
after Russia pulls out its troops from Georgia.
`After the pullout of the Russian military bases from Georgia, we
will help all the employees, including local residents of
Akhalkalaki, to get jobs in the Georgian armed forces. Not a single
high-skilled person will remain unemployed,’ Saakashvili said while
visiting the 11th Battalion of the Defense Ministry deployed in a
town of Telavi in eastern Georgia.
The Georgian President also reiterated that no troops of any foreign
country will be deployed in Georgia after Russia closes down its
bases.
On March 13, hundreds of local residents in Akhalkalaki, a town in
Georgia’s south-western region of Samtskhe-Javakheti which is
predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians, rallied in protest of
the withdrawal of the Russian military base stationed in that town.