DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE UNION OF GEORGIAN ARMENIANS DENIES EXISTENCE OF THE DANGER OF AN ETHNIC CONFLICT IN THE TSALKA DISTRICT
Source: Svobodny Gruzia (Tbilisi), March 10, 2006, EV

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 15, 2006 Wednesday

Van Baiburt, Deputy Chairman of the Union of Georgian Armenians,
lawmaker, and Vrastan newspaper editor-in-chief, denies existence of
the danger of ethnic clashes in the Tsalka district. “I do not expect
ethnic clashes in the Tsalka district of Georgia that may follow the
March 9 incident, when Gevork Gevorkjan, 24, was murdered and Karen
Balojan wounded,” Baiburt told journalists at the Georgian parliament
on March 10.

The incident in the district center of Tsalka in East Georgia was
reported by the Press Service of the Interior Ministry on March 10.

What information is available indicates that the incident took place
in a restaurant in central Tsalka the previous day. Officers of the
territorial office of the Interior Ministry of the Kvemo Kartli region
detained five suspects. Investigation is under way. Some Georgian TV
channels report that it was a clash between Gevorkjan and Balojan on
the one hand and several Georgians of Svan origin on the other. All
participants of the incidents were drunk.

Conflicts between the indigenous Armenians and the Georgian settlers
(mostly victims of various natural disasters moved to the district)
flare up in Tsalka every now and then. In the latest period of tension
in spring 2004, the Interior Ministry deployed its special forces
in the district and set up checkpoints in Georgian and Armenian
villages. Law enforcement agencies refer conflicts to mundane issues.