GEORGIA’S OMBUDSMAN CONDUCTS PRESS-CONFERENCE REGARDING TSALKA EVENTS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 13 2006

TBILISI, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the 11th of
March a press conference was conducted in public defender’s office
regarding the incident that took place on the 9th of March as a result
of which Mr. Gevorg Gevorgyan was killed and other ethnic Armenian
citizens of Georgia were injured to various degrees. According to
official data, five suspects were detained by the Police of Georgia
and other suspects are searched for. The incident provoked a mass
protest of ethnic Armenian residents of Javakhk region, which later
grew into violence. The demonstration was dismissed by special
security service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia
based in other regions of Georgia. The next day after the collision a
group of representatives of the Public Defender of Georgia arrived in
Tsalka. After having preliminarily studied the case the Ombudsman of
Georgia Mr. Sozar Subari stated that the conflict happened based on
‘common’ grounds. Public defender called to let government officials
finish the investigation of Tsalka events without any pressure or
hindrance. According to the Armenian portal of Georgia “Armenia.ge”,
Mr. Karen Elchyan, President of the Armenian Centre of Cooperation of
Georgia, has also come out with a statement. He expressed condolences
to the family of the murder victim and presented the official position
of his organization. He stated that there are two different versions of
the motivation of the crime, and one of the versions, namely the ethnic
hatred motivation, is held by the victims of the crime. Responding to a
journalist’s question regarding Javakhk Armenians’ requests of autonomy
for Javakhk he noted that such requests are entirely lawful and are
based on the principles of federalism and territorial integrity of
state. Residents of the region, he stated, are convinced that granting
Javakhk autonomy would contribute to fulfillment of their obligations
and rights as of citizens of Georgia. The Armenian Apostolic Church
Diocese of Georgia has also commented on the events in Tsalka. The
Assistant to the Head of the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church,
Mr. Levon Isakhanyan supported the position of Mr. Karen Elchyan
regarding the existence of two versions of motivation of the crime. He
added that such crimes are consequence of anti-Armenian hysteria,
launched by the means of Georgian mass-media. On behalf of the Diocese,
he called for the appropriate government bodies to pay sufficient
attention to the problems of the Armenian Apostolic Church Diocese
of Georgia, interethnic relations and defending rights of the ethnic
minorities residing in Georgia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress