Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 11, 2005, Monday

NATIONAL MINORITIES OF GEORGIA ARE READY TO REVOLT

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, July 07, 2005, p. 4

by Yury Simonyan

GEORGIA: SITUATION IN PLACES OF COMPACT RESIDENCES OF AZERBAIJANIS
AND ARMENIANS IS DRAMATICALLY AGGRAVATED

In the last few days, Georgia once again found itself face to face
with the old problem of inter-ethnic conflicts. Situation in places
of compact residences of Azerbaijanis and Armenians grew dramatically
worse.

The search for Sadraddin Palangov, resident of Sadakhlo village on
the border with Armenia, did not yield any results yet. Palangov was
a local spiritual leader also known as mullah Gara. (…) Bearing in
mind that not long before disappearance of mullah Gara Armenian
border guards arrested four residents of Sadakhlo, Azerbaijanis who
were cutting wood in the border forest, local residents accused
Armenians of the crime against their spiritual leader too. Residents
of Sadakhlo picketed the Georgian-Armenian interstate highway
demanding arrival of the top-ranking officials of the Interior
Ministry and General Prosecutor’s Office from Tbilisi. Finally, they
were content with interference of the district authorities. Amiran
Shubitidze, head of the local administration, held successful
negotiations with Armenian border guards and all arrested were
released. However, he failed to find any information about
disappeared Palangov. Zurab Melikashvili, plenipotentiary of the
President in Kvemo Kartli province, told journalists that search was
underway and the leading specialists of the Interior Ministry
participated in the search. (…)

Once again, quietness was broken in the Tsalksky District of the same
region where Greeks, Armenians and migrants from the high mountain
areas of Georgia were residing compactly. Relations between the
natives and the migrants were aggravated recently so much that
special forces were sent to the region according to the order of
President Mikhail Saakashvili. Relative still lasted only for a short
time. Now local Armenians accuse the special forces of infringing on
their rights and open support of the Svans (Georgian ethnic group)
relocated there.

To relieve the tension of the inter-ethnic relations the President
even had to take steps of economic nature. Thus analysts interpreted
the order of Mikhail Saakashvili to make Dzhavakhetia historically
populated by Armenians the main supplier of food products to the
Georgian army.(…)

Translated by Pavel Pushkin

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress