LACK OF INFORMATION TO BLAME FOR ETHNIC ARMENIAN UNREST – GEORGIAN GOVERNOR

Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
13 Mar 06

[Presenter] There was another protest today in Akhalkalaki [mostly
ethnic Armenian town in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti province where
riots broke out on 11 March]. This time it was students of the
Javakheti branch of the [Tbilisi] state university who took to the
street. Their main demand was for the university branch to retain
its current status. Protesters were saying that students should not
get involved in political conflicts.

Simultaneously, the president’s representative in Samtskhe-Javakheti
[governor Giorgi Khachidze] was meeting Akhalkalaki residents and
Armenian nongovernment organizations.

The incidents on Saturday were today described as vandalism, but
members of Armenian nongovernment organizations also demanded that
government business in the region be conducted in Armenian. [Passage
omitted]

[Khachidze, interviewed after the meeting] Many problems arise as a
result of people not having enough information. Quite a few things have
been sorted out today and they have received a lot of information. The
better informed the public, the less likely such incidents will be.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress