AUTONOMY APPEAL FACES PARLIAMENT MEMBER’S BACKLASH

Armenpress
Sept 26, 2005

TBILISI, SEPTEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS: An application of Armenian
organizations in southern Georgia demanding autonomy for a
predominantly-Armenian populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti faced
a strong backlash from an Armenian member of the Georgian parliament,
Van Bayburdian.

The appeal was issued by a congress of Armenian organizations of the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region held in the town of Akhalkalaki Saturday.

Bayburdian , who is also chairman of the Union of Georgian Armenians,
said the appeal was’ groundless,” as the population of Ninotsminda
and Akhalkalaki regions, where the majority are ethnic Armenians,
‘have full authority to govern their regions.”

He said there are more than 100 Armenian schools in the region and
Armenians are represented in Georgian government bodies and have
five members in the parliament. He also said there was no tendency
to discriminate Armenians because of their ethnicity. He said all
Georgian regions face dire economic conditions, but the government
is committed to resolve them. “One should not politicize social and
economic problems of the region, a wrong policy assumed by some local
Armenian organizations,” he said.