AZG Armenian Daily #105, 09/06/2005
Diaspora
AN ATTEMPT TO DENATIONALIZE ARMENIAN SCHOOL OF AKHALTSKHA?
‘Police’ Beat Pupils While Quelling the Rally
On June7, the police of Samtskhe-Javakhk region of Georgia headed by
coordinator of the region’s law enforcement forces Aram Poghosian crushed
down the rally of Armenian pupils of Akhaltskha secondary school after
Hovhannes Tumanian. According to a source in Akhaltskha, Armenian and
Georgian policemen beat several students while making their way to the
school. Two of them were admitted to the hospital; one of the children got
his clavicle broken.
The events a few days back stand for the local Armenians’ protest rally. The
education minister of Georgia signed a decree on May 24 sacking the
headmaster of the school Lyuba Matevosian. She was replaced by
Russian-speaking Robert Muradian. Mrs. Matevosian was informed about her
dismissal on June 2.
Though Mrs. Matevosian was going to resign at the end of the academic year
(by the end of June) and terminate the teacher’s 45-year-old career, she
claims she was sacked unlawfully. In a phone conversation with daily Azg
Mrs. Matevosian said that the new legislation forces all headmasters of
Georgia’s secondary schools resign by the end of each academic year and to
elect a new one.
Lyuba Matevosian notes that the school’s staff, pupils and the alumni were
going to organize a farewell party for her. “The teaching staff is against
the new candidate for headmaster, the pupils and people are against it,
too”, she explains.
A member of Akhaltskha’s Armenian community (name withheld for safety
reasons) told daily Azg that there is political calculation in dismissing
the honored teacher as Lyuba Matevosian. He claims that the new headmaster
has no connection with the school, moreover, he is Russian-speaking. “We
think that the 175-year-old Armenian school will get ruined with him as a
headmaster”, he says.
Reportedly the newly appointed headmaster was introduced to the staff. The
teachers refused to work with Robert Muradian and left the school compound.
The wife of the headmaster, teacher of the school, failed to enter the
school yesterday as a few students blocked her way. According to news from
Akhaltskha, the situation between local Armenians and the region’s law
enforcement bodies is tense. The regional administration announced that the
police will arrest several Armenian “nationalists”.
Georgian education minister Kakha Lomaya is resolute to defend his candidate
to the end.
The situation over the school in Akhaltskha should be viewed in a wider
context. International organizations such as the International Federation of
Human Rights and NATO Parliamentary Assembly point out in a report issued
lately that the minority rights, including national, religious and cultural
rights of the Armenians, in “rose Georgia” are violated.
In an interview to daily Azg in early May Lyuba Matevosian told with pain
that the school after Tumanian remains the only cultural center in
Akhaltskha. “There was a time when Akhaltskha was almost an Armenian town.
60-70 percent of the population was Armenian before the 1950s, now hardly 30
percent is Armenian. There are almost no Armenian officials. People have
changed a great deal. Everybody used to speak Armenian in past days, we felt
as though at home”.
World famous French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour, whose parents
originate from Akhaltskha, visited the town on May 29 on invitation of
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and met local Armenians in that very
school. In case the last cultural fortress — Tumanian school — gets
denationalized, tens of thousands Armenians can do nothing but leave their
birthplace.
By Tatoul Hakobian
From: Baghdasarian