NK CONFLICT HANGS OVER GEORGIA’S ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGIONS
By Zaal Anjaparidze

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
March 15 2006

Tensions are running high in Tsalka and Akhalkalaki, two regions of
Georgia that are predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians.

The latest problem began in Tsalka on March 9, when a trivial brawl
at a restaurant between local Armenians and Georgians resulted in the
death of Gevork Gevorkian, a 24-year-old Armenian, and injuries to
four other Armenians. However, Maria Mikoyan of the Armenian Union
in Georgia (Nor Serund) claimed that the fight began because the
Georgian young men were irritated by the Armenian music playing in
the restaurant.

Although police have arrested five Georgian suspects, about 500
Armenian protesters gathered outside the Tsalka administrative building
on March 10, calling for prosecution of the suspects. On March 11,
the upheaval spread to Akhalkalaki, a town in the predominately
Armenian populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region in southern Georgia.

About 300 participants in the Akhalkalaki rally were Tsalka
Armenians. They later took their appeal to the Georgian government
and demanded that Tbilisi “stop the policy of pressure by fueling
interethnic tensions” and “stop the settlement of other nationalities
in Armenian-populated regions.” Later, the protesters voiced demands
related to the right to conduct court proceedings and government
business in the Armenian language. Specifically, they want the central
government to make the Armenian language a state language equal to
Georgian in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Reiterating the alleged
threat to the rights of Armenians in Georgia, the appeal also demanded
political autonomy for the region.

The rally soon turned violent. The protesters, mostly youth, left
the government building and raided a local court chamber, ousting
a Georgian judge. They also attacked a building on Tbilisi State
University’s Akhalkalaki campus and a local Georgian Orthodox Church.

Later on Khachatur Stepanian, a representative of the council of
Armenian civic groups in Samtskhe-Javakheti, which organized the rally,
attempted to soften the anxiety and called the incident a “provocation”
staged by “someone else.”

On March 11, leaders of the public movement Multiethnic Georgia and
the Armenian Union in Georgia complained that police had brutally
dispersed the rally in Tsalka where “ethnic confrontation is
increasingly becoming a reason behind crimes.” They said that if
tension in Tsalka and Samtskhe-Javakheti continues, then Tbilisi
would be forced to establish direct presidential rule there.

Although Georgian Public Defender Sozar Subari investigated the Tsalka
incident and ruled it to be a “communal crime,” the majority of the
Armenian communities in these regions consider the incident to be a
demonstration of ethnic hatred towards Armenians, which they believe
is the result of the Georgian government’s misguided policies towards
ethnic minorities. They further alleged that Georgian law-enforcement
agents were working in tandem with those who committed the crime.

United Javakh, a radical Armenian organization in Samtskhe-Javakheti,
issued a statement accusing Tbilisi of “discriminatory policies”
against “the Armenian population of Javakh,” the Armenian nomenclature
for the region. They described the recent dismissal of the region’s
ethnic Armenian judges for ignorance of the Georgian language
as “cynically trampling on the rights of the Armenian-populated
region.” Georgian authorities insist the judges were dismissed for
misconduct.

The United Javakh statement warned about “destructive trends in
the Georgian government’s policy” aimed at artificially creating a
“climate of ethnic intolerance” and “crushing the will of Javakh’s
Armenian population to protect its right to live in its motherland.”

Finally the statement demands that Tbilisi show “political prudence”
and put an end to the “infringement” of the Armenian community’s
rights.

The content and tone of this and previous statements by United Javakh
and other radical Armenian organizations reportedly have strong
backing from political forces in Armenia. In fact, the statements
recall the language used by the Armenian community in Karabakh in its
relations with the Azerbaijani government before war erupted. Vardan
Akopian, chair of the Javakh Youth organization, argued, “The current
situation in Javakheti is a cross between situations in Nakhichevan and
Karabakh.” Several protestors explicitly cited the Karabakh precedent.

Symptomatically, on October 8, 2005, Garnik Isagulyan, the Armenian
president’s national security advisor, bluntly warned Tbilisi to be
“extremely cautious” with regard to Samtskhe-Javakheti “because any
minor provocation can turn into a large-scale clash” (EDM, October
12, 2005). Various Armenian political parties, officials, and media
have actively discussed the problems of the Armenian community in
Samtskhe-Javakheti. Some Armenian members of the Georgian parliament
linked this activity with the approaching parliamentary elections
in Armenia.

Recently Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian released a paper
on security issues in which he expressed concern over the situation
in Samtskhe-Javakheti. The excessively critical tone of the Armenian
minister towards Tbilisi’s policy in Samtskhe-Javakheti reportedly
alarmed Georgian politicians and analysts, but they preferred to
stay tight-lipped, perhaps to avoid upsetting the already-complex
Georgian-Armenian relationship (EDM, August 3, June 7, May 24, March
23, 2005). Russia has tried to capitalize on the problem by fueling
tensions in Akhalkalaki, location of a Russian military base slated
for closure.

Although the Georgian government is continuously downplaying the
ethnic aspects of the disturbances in Armenian-populated regions,
this factor appears to lurk beneath the surface. Georgia remains
Armenia’s sole transport route to Russia and Europe due to the ongoing
blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Thus an unstable Samtskhe-Javakheti
would hardly be a gain for Yerevan. However, the “Karabakh syndrome”
should not be removed from the agenda.

(Resonance, March 9, 11; Akhali Taoba, Civil Georgia, Rustavi-2,
Regnum, vesti.ru, March 11; Imedi-TV, March 10, 11)