April 24, 2005

Where is the Georgia-Armenia Border?
Nino Bestavashvili

On the border of Georgia and Armenia, Armenian border guards opened fire in
the direction of journalists from the Georgian TV station Mze. It had come
to the attention of journalist Giorgi Kalandia that the integrity of the
Georgian border in the Marneuli region had been infringed upon, and he
decided to go there with his camera crew. It turned out that the border has
been moved by 300 meters, putting the ancient Georgian Khujabi monastery in
the territory of Armenia. When the team began filming the Cathedral, it
provoked fire from the Armenian border troops.

Armenian border guards opened fire towards the direction of a journalist
from the Georgian TV station Mze on the Georgian-Armenian border-line. It
all started when it became known to the journalist that Armenian border
guards had moved the border line into Georgian territory by 300 meters. The
location of the border change is evident by the fact that the ancient
Georgian Khujabi monastery is now within this 300-meter span. This triggered
the interest of Georgian journalists and with the aim to check on the
validity of this information, Giorgi Kalandia and his camera crew went there
to investigate the situation.

The camera crew managed to get to the specified location, a fact that
irritated the Armenian border guards.  The guards believed that the border
line had been violated by the journalists and that they had crossed the
Armenian border without permission, after which they opened fire on the news
team.  Though the Armenian guards were shooting in the direction of the
journalists, they aimed over their heads, and were not pointing their guns
at them. The fire continued for several minutes as the journalists were
filming the monastery, and did not stop until the journalists finished
filming and left the territory.

The Khujabi monastery is located in Marneuli Region, situated on the edge of
a forest in a rather remote place where there is practically no human
traffic.  The monastery was built in the 13th century and is one of the
oldest monasteries in Georgia.

The incident has seriously outraged the staff of Mze. According to them, the
frontier guards did not have the right to fire their weapons, even into the
air, because the status of the territory has not yet been officially defined
and therefore, is not technically part of Armenia. While the two sides are
now working on defining the exact border, the journalists deem this kind of
action as an attempt to interfere with and prevent the carrying out their
professional duties.