GEORGIAN STATE DOESN’T ENSURE ARMENIAN CITIZENS’ SECURITY ANY LONGER, ARMENIAN COOPERATION CENTRE OF GEORGIA EMPHASIZES

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 15 2006

TBILISI, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “Sorrowfully, the
safety of the Armenian citizens of Georgia is no longer a guarantee
of the Georgian state, to which a testimony is a high rise of crime
directed against Armenians of Georgia,” the official statement of the
Armenian Cooperation Centre of Georgia in connection with the Tsalka
incident read.

On the 9th of March, as a result of an armed attack in Tsalka Gevorg
Gevorkyan was killed, as well as other Georgian citizens of Armenian
ethnicity were wounded to different degrees. This caused mass protests
in the Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk).

The ACCG is convinced in the necessity of the prompt investigation
and solution of the criminal case opened by the county’s Ministry of
Internal Affairs law enforcement bodies according to the clause 109
of the Penal Code of Georgia, and the pronouncement of just sentence
to the group of criminals. The organization will supervise the course
of investigation within the framework of its competences.

According to the official position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
of Georgia, the murder in Tsalka has been committed on common grounds
and does not have ethnic pretext. According to the preliminary data of
the investigation, it was a usual quarrel, which began at a restaurant
between drunk people and developed into a fight and knifing during
which one of its participants was stabbed to death and others were
wounded. Ministry of Internal Affairs, however, remains silent about
the fact that the attacked Armenians were also beaten-up by the
employees of that same Ministry.

In the opinion of the ACCG any premature definition of corpus
delicti on the government level is inappropriate and can damage
the objective investigation of the case. It is also wrong to make
premature conclusions regarding the motivations of the crime before
the detention of all suspects.

The Armenian Cooperation Centre of Georgia is convinced that such
crimes against citizens of Armenian origin are encouraged by the
established and growing anti-Armenian atmosphere in the Georgian
society. The Georgian mass media plays an active role in this, by
promoting negative stereotypes of Armenians in the society and ethnic
dissociation in the country. Certain anti-Armenian articles and news
releases demonstrate not only chauvinistic sentiments, but also the
elementary unprofessional approach of many representatives of the
country’s mass media. It is significant that besides of citizens of
Armenian origin, the subject of such an aggression becomes also the
holy of holies of the Armenian people, Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.

Concerning the activities undertaken in Akhalkalaki, the ACCG
fully supports the legitimate demands of our fellow citizens and is
ready to promote their realization. At the same time, the Armenian
Cooperation Centre of Georgia calls on the supreme bodies of the
country’s government to pay more attention to interethnic relations
and the rights of ethnic minorities, as well as to the promotion of
principles of tolerance and equality in our country.