AZG Armenian Daily #103, 07/06/2005
Diaspora
ARMENIAN COMMUNITY AFTER ROSE REVOLUTION IN GEORGIA
Journalists accompanying Prime Minister Andranik Margarian’s delegation at
the CIS summit of prime ministers in Tbilisi got in touch with the
representatives of the Armenian community of Georgia. I managed to find time
to meet my relatives whom I hadn’t seen for 10 years as well. They had a new
member in their family — a grandchildren whom they named Dato. The last
name of the family was also georgianized: Armenian Hasratian turned into
Hasratashvili.
Ill attitude towards Armenians has become more evident after the rose
revolution. Belief that Armenians still remain Russia’s closest ally
somewhat stands for that. Post-Soviet Georgia is feverously rubbing off all
remnants of Kremlin’s influence. There are even no signboards in Russian
language.
The forces of Georgia’s special police beat recently 6 Armenians in Khuschi
village of Tsalka region. They even beat deputy Hayk Meltonian who tried to
intervene. The deputy who told us about those events noted that the
villagers had done nothing illegal. None of the Georgian televisions covered
the events in Khuschi village. Meltonian though held back to paint the
thrashing into the colors of ethnic hostility. “There is no national
discrimination in what happened. The reason is that the special police is
out of control; everybody feels as though a chief”.
The withdrawal of Russian military bases will put Armenians of Javakhk
before a new reality. The 62d base in Akhalkalak was the only place to
secure population with jobs; there are no factories or plants in the region.
Armenian deputy from the region, Hamlet Movsisian, is optimistic
nevertheless. People are also hopeful that they will be employed in new
would-be Georgian bases. Former servicemen that were provided with
apartments fear that they will lose their flats once Russians leave.
There were 80.000 Armenians in Akhalkalak 10-15 years back. Today their has
decreased to 60.000. The total number of Armenians in Georgia is 0.5
million. Unemployment is the most painful issue for most of Georgians and
Armenians in post-revolutionary country.
Only in Tbilisi there are around 100.000 Armenians. The Armenian occupying
the highest position in Georgia’s government is deputy economy minister Gena
Muradian. The deputy representative of Samtskhe-Javakhk region is also
Armenian. In order to occupy such high positions one should be fluent in
Georgian. The authorities are trying to include Georgian language as a
compulsory subject in the school curriculum. There are 145 Armenian schools
in Georgia, 9 of them are in Tbilisi.
Hamlet Movsisian tells that the rose revolution brought many changes in the
lives of Armenians as well. In the past the merchants not only traveling
from Georgia to Armenia but also those trading within the country’s
boundaries had to overcome dozens of obstacles. Traffic officers used to
openly take bribes. For the Armenians, as well as for Georgians, the reforms
in this system are one of the brightest turns that the rose revolution
granted.
The number of religious sects in Georgia is very scant. The lawmaker says
that they, particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses, are active in Akhalkalak. But
active involvement of Armenian clergy in the region has considerably revived
the Armenian community. The number of churchgoers increased, and people
restored national and religious ceremonies.
Hamlet Movsisian sees the reason of appropriation of Armenian churches by
Georgians in the fact that Armenians have left them desolated. “We ourselves
do not care for our historic values, our churches, most of them lie idle,
even the 2 Armenian churches of Tbilisi, Surp Gevorg and Surp Etchmiadzin,
are in a very bad condition, panting for repair”, he says.
The next meeting of Armenian and Georgian prime ministers will be entirely
devoted to practical issues. As we have already informed, they will meet in
Javakhk in July-August. The Georgians will present their project, and the
Armenian government will inform how much money it will assign for the
project. The prime ministers will travel into the southern regions of
Georgia to see for themselves how serious the issues of road network,
irrigation and drinking water are.
By Karine Danielian