LEADERS URGED TO MEET LOCAL MP OVER UNREST IN GEORGIA’S ETHNIC ARMENIAN REGION
Imedi TV, Tbilisi
13 Mar 06
[Presenter] Certain forces wish to destabilize the situation in the
country by stirring up disorder in Akhalkalaki, Chair of Parliament
Nino Burjanadze told a meeting of the bureau today.
Majority member Beso Jugheli asked the speaker whether she had met
Hamlet Movsesyan, the MP for Akhalkalaki, who Jugheli said, wants to
brief the president on the events in Akhalkalaki.
[Burjanadze] A very unpleasant incident has taken place in Akhalkalaki
[protest by local Armenians on 11 March which ended in the ransacking
of a local university and court].
I should stress however that the serious incident that preceded the
attempts to create disorder [a clash between ethnic Armenians and
Georgians in Tsalka District in which an Armenian was killed and
several others wounded] is a very sensitive subject indeed. All the
questions must be answered and the guilty punished.
It is obvious that there are serious forces trying to destabilize
this region and the country. There are serious forces trying to set
Georgians and non-Georgians against each other.
[Jugheli, to Burjanadze] Have you spoken to Hamlet Movsesyan, the MP
for Akhalkalaki?
[Burjanadze] No, I have not spoken to him yet but I certainly will.
[Jugheli] Kalbatono Nino, I want to state, very gently, that no-one
pays any attention to what local constituency MPs say. Hamlet Movsesyan
is a clear example of this. Khatuna, hold on a second please. I do
not know whether he had a fever or something else but I know that
Hamlet Movsesyan has requested a meeting with the president.