GEORGIAN SPEAKER SATISFIED WITH ARMENIA POSTURE OVER RUSSIAN MILITARY
BASE IN GEORGIAN AKHALKALAKI

02.04.2005 03:01

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgian Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze
yesterday confirmed to journalists that Presidents of Armenia and
Georgia Robert Kocharian and Mikhail Saakashvili will discuss the
situation over the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki in the south
of Georgia. `Unofficial meetings can result in very positive outcomes,
which are better than those brought by tete-a-tete talks of the
Presidents in the course of official visits,’ Burjanadze said. She
also said she `was satisfied’ with `Armenian official authorities and
first of all the President of the country have stated quite
unambiguously that the issue of withdrawal of Russian bases is
Georgia’s domestic affair, and it has to decide itself, Armenia will
not voice an official position over the issue.’ It should be reminded
that in the opinion of some experts, Kocharian’s unexpected unofficial
visit to Georgia is first of all due to the actions of the Armenian
population of the south of the country protesting against withdrawal
of the Russian military base from Akhalkalaki becoming frequent. The
population fears that after the withdrawal of the base it will be
deprived of the only source of stable income: most of the region
residents work at the base. Besides, the Akhalkalaki residents are
worried about the opportunity of replacement of the Russian base with
a NATO one, specifically, a Turkish base.