‘INNER TENSION IN JAVAKHK IS THE RESULT OF UNCERTAINTY’
By Tatoul Hakobian

AZG Armenian Daily #185
14/10/2005

Diaspora

Davit Rstakian: If it goes on like this people might even demand
independence

On October 12, a group of unknowns distributed leaflets in Javakhk
signed the Liberation Brigade of Akhaltskha – an organization that
nobody heard of before. The Russian-language leaflets that featured
Turkish symbols – star and crescent – ordered the Armenians of Javakhk
to leave the region immediately for Armenia, Russia, America or any
other country. Otherwise Armenians will be massacred as it happened
in 1915.

In their statement on this occasion the Council of NGOs of
Samtskhe-Javakhk voiced an opinion that no matter who the author
of this action is “he plays with fire”. “This is another attempt to
derail the population of the region.

Aggravation of the situation will be beneficial neither for the
Georgians, nor for the Armenians.”

Davit Rstakian, head of Virq organization of Akhalkalak, thinks that
the leaflet action was organized by Georgia’s special services. He
reminded that Georgian state secretary Georgi Khaindrava sets off for
Azerbaijan, Russia, Uzbekistan and other countries where Meskhet Turks
exiled from Samtskhe live since 1944. President Mikheil Saakashvili
ordered him to negotiate the Turks return to Georgi on the spot.

“Georgia is not ready to accept them. The Georgians will try to
bring the issue to a deadlock blaming Armenians as though they oppose
the Turks’ return. Those leaflets aim at raising anti-Turkish moods
among the Armenians,” Rstakian said. The overall impression from the
conversation with Davit Rstakian is that the situation is outwardly
calm “but there is inner tension that comes from uncertainty.”

Rstakian said that the Georgian authorities make attempts to
“break” the Armenians of Javakhk but they fail. On October 5,
the police put down the rally of hundreds of Armenians who were
protesting the sanctions of tax officers who closed ten Armenian
stores in Akhalkalak. Armenian policemen used bludgeons and warning
shots to calm protesters down. “The people did not lost heart, and
they understood that it’s difficult to crush the spirit of Javakhk
Armenians,” Rstakian said.

The Georgian President justified the police’s violence reminding that
Javakhk rested in post-independence permissiveness and “now we are
bringing in control which means that clashes are possible at some
point.” Others link the violence in Akhalkalak with the demand of
several organizations of Javakhk to grant the region autonomy.

“It is the policy of Georgian authorities that makes us push for
autonomy. I always say that the status is only a means to settle the
problems of Javakhk Armenians. If it goes on like this people might
even demand independence.

The major problems of Javakhk Armenians are not of socio-economic
character as the authorities claim. We have deficiency of rights,”
Rstakian said.