EurasiaNet Organization
March 15 2005

SAAKASHVILI: NO JOBS IN JEOPARDY FROM BASE CLOSURE
Molly Corso 3/15/05

A parliamentary resolution that seeks an early Russian withdrawal
from military bases from Georgian territory is stirring concerns
about what a pull-out will mean for the economic welfare of one
Georgian town.

In a unanimous vote March 10, Georgian legislators called on
President Mikheil Saakashvili to demand a full Russian troop
withdrawal from two bases on Georgian territory by January 1, 2006,
unless Russian officials agree to a mutually acceptable pull-out
timetable before May 15. Saakashvili is not bound by law to implement
the resolution, which is aimed at breaking a deadlock in base
withdrawal negotiations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. If Russia balks on the base issue, Georgia should simply
shut down the two facilities – one at the Black Sea port of Batumi,
the other in Akhalkalaki, a town of 10,000 with a predominantly
ethnic Armenian local population – the resolution states.

The situation in Akhalkalaki illustrates the extent to which the base
debate with Moscow goes beyond foreign policy. Related economic and
interethnic issues promise to play a considerable role as well.

The base in Akhalkalaki employs about 15 percent of the local
population and is the only major employer in town. In addition, local
Armenians say the Russian troop presence makes them feel more secure.
Between 1,500 and 4,000 Akhalkalaki residents took to the streets on
March 13 to demonstrate against the base’s potential closure,
contending that Russians troops provided their only defense against
Turkey, a longtime Armenian foe. [For additional information see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. David Rstkyan, leader of the ethnic
Armenian political party Virk, has pledged that town residents will
“do everything to try and stop the Russian soldiers from leaving
Akhalkalaki,” Kavkasia-Press reported.

Strengthening relations with Georgia’s ethnic minorities is a key
government policy goal, and the discontent in Akhalkalaki seems to
have caught Saakashvili’s attention. In a televised exchange with
Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili on March 14, the president stated
that a Georgian army unit would move into the town’s base once
Russian troops had vacated the property. Jobs for all Georgians
currently employed at the base would be preserved, he said.

“Our task is to make sure that not a single qualified person who has
anything to do with the military is left without a job,” Imedi
television quoted Saakashvili as saying during a March 14 inspection
of a Georgian army battalion. “We have the resources and money to
ensure this.”

Hamlet Movsesian, Akhalkalaki’s parliamentary representative, told
EurasiaNet that, after the Rose Revolution, government
representatives, including the late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania,
promised the town the base would not be closed until alternate
employment could be created. “It worries me,” he said. “In the region
there are no factories, no production plants. The base is the only
working industry employing citizens.” Base employees reportedly earn
$200-$300 per month, considerably more than any local Georgian
employer could pay.

Infrastructure, town officials say, poses a major obstacle for
attracting interest to the region – whether private businesses or
international organizations.

“[Y]ou can say that the infrastructure is basically zero. If you want
to develop something, without infrastructure, that is not possible,”
said Akhalkalaki region head Artul Eremayn, citing his office’s lack
of a fax machine as an indication of the extent of the problem. “It’s
like what comes first, the chicken or the egg? [Should we work on]
development first or the infrastructure?”

In interviews with EurasiaNet before Saakashvili’s announcement,
Movsesian and Akhalkalaki Deputy Mayor Ararat Kanaian said that some
jobs could come as early as April or May as part of the national
government’s on-going project to rebuild regional roads. Plans also
exist to open the Karsi-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railroad line as well as
a possible customs checkpoint in the region. No estimate on exactly
how many jobs could be created from these plans, however, exists.

Additional help could come from foreign donors. The United States
Department of Agriculture plans to set up an Internet café in one
local school to act as an information center for local farmers. The
United States Agency for International Development says that it
intends to involve an unspecified number of area villages in its
Georgia Employment and Infrastructure Initiative, a program that
finances infrastructure overhauls for villages that submit qualifying
business plans.

Georgia’s improving relationship with neighboring Armenia would seem
an important factor in Saakashvili’s decision-making calculus on the
Akhalkalaki base. Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli completed
a two-day visit to Yerevan on March 12, during which he expressed a
desire to expand bilateral trade ties. The Georgian government is
especially interested in importing electricity from Armenia. Tbilisi
also wants to explore a possible Georgian link to a planned pipeline
between Armenia and Iran. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

For now, it appears that the base jobs in Akhalkalaki are secure.
Moscow recently stated that it needs three-four years for its
withdrawal from Batumi and Akhalkalaki – along with a training center
in Gonio, a village not far from Batumi — a declaration welcomed by
Tbilisi as an improvement over earlier estimates of seven-eight
years.

Still, the Georgian parliament does not appear inclined toward
patience. “The Red Army took much less time to occupy Georgia [in
1921],” resolution co-author and member of parliament Giga Bokeria
was quoted as saying by the Civil Georgia website in reference to
Moscow’s proposed timeline for the withdrawal.

Georgian legislators have scoffed at demands from Russian Duma
Chairman Boris Gryzlov that Tbilisi to pay compensation for the
property left behind. Instead, MPs have charged that Russia owes
Georgia between $300 million – $400 million in back taxes for use of
the land the bases sit on, and have threatened to suspend visas for
Russian military personnel traveling to the bases, as well as the
installations’ electricity and phone service.

One of those threats appears to have already taken effect: On March
12, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a protest note in connection
with a delay in issuing a visa to General Alexander Bespalov, the
newly appointed commander for Russian troops in the South Caucasus.

Saakashvili’s promise that Georgian soldiers would effectively
replace departing Russian troops appeared unlikely to sway opinion in
Akhalkalaki. Many local residents believe that Georgian troops are
not as skilled as Russian troops at providing security against a
widely perceived threat coming from nearby Turkey, according to
Kanaian. Roughly 95 percent of the town’s residents are descended
from Armenians who fled Ottoman Turkey following the 1915 massacre of
thousands of their compatriots. “[The base] protects us and there is
work there. The base is our guarantee,” Akhalkalaki resident Vova
Chlokhyan commented. “It protects us from the Turks. We have already
seen the danger [they pose for us] and we are afraid of them.”

Despite Virk’s threat to organize more demonstrations, Deputy Mayor
Kanaian is confident that unrest can be avoided as the base issue
plays out. “I don’t think that there will be a particular problem
here. There are people, who have a huge interest in that base, and,
of course, they will try [to keep it here].”

Educating the public about how the base closure could impact them is
a larger worry for the government than protests, he said. “[We] are
doing things to explain to people [what is going on]. We have to
understand each other, the people and the government.”

Editor’s Note: Molly Corso is a freelance journalist and photographer
based in Tbilisi.