GROUPS IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI ADVOCATE AUTONOMY

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Sept 26 2005

A group of non-governmental organizations based in Georgia’s southern
region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, which is predominately populated by
ethnic Armenians, held a conference on September 23-24 and discussed
current problems in the region.

In a resolution adopted at the conference, the Council of Armenian
non-governmental organizations in Samtskhe-Javakheti called on the
Georgian leadership to consider granting autonomy to the region with
“broad authority for self-governance, including the right to hold
elections for all bodies of governance,” the Russian news agency
regnum reported on September 26.

Text of the resolution also says that by offering the broadest form of
autonomy to South Ossetia and Abkhazia the Georgian authorities are
“discriminating other ethnicities living in Georgia – the rights of
[other ethnicities] who have demonstrated civil loyalty are being
ignored.”

“Meanwhile, those regions who have violated the country’s territorial
integrity [South Ossetia, Abkhazia], are offered solutions, which
should also be available for [ethnic populations] densly residing in
some of the regions of the country,” the resolution says.

Participants of the conference stated that a federal arrangement
of Georgia could be the best solution to the problem and called on
the Georgian leadership to consider creating a “Samtskhe-Javakheti
Parliament through free and direct elections, which would be authorized
to carry out cultural, education social and economic policies, as
well as [will be authorized] to protect public order.”