POLITICAL GROUP URGES ARMENIA TO ACT AMID TENSION IN SOUTHERN GEORGIA

Noyan Tapan news agency
14 Mar 06

Yerevan, 14 March: The Javakhk council [political group demanding
autonomy for ethnic Armenians in the southern Georgian region of
Javakheti, referred to by the group as Javakhk], which comprises
15 public organizations, has appealed to the Armenian government
to pay proper attention to the problems of Armenians in Javakhk and
recognize the political component of this problem. This was set out
in a statement issued by the council on 14 March.

“Encouraged by the total indifference of the authorities of
the Republic of Armenia, Georgian circles have become even more
unrestrained,” the authors of the statement say. Recent anti-Armenian
steps in Georgia have included the dismissal of judges of Armenian
origin on the pretext of them having no knowledge of the Georgian
language, the opening of an eparchy of the Georgian church on the
territory of Armenia [as received] and the killing of an Armenian
youth in Tsalka.

“Without ruling out the possibility of a third party, including
Azerbaijan and Turkey, having been involved in provoking and
instigating these Anti-Armenian steps, the Javakhk council considers
the authorities of Georgia and the Georgian Orthodox Church to be
the main culprits. A share of the responsibility is borne by the
authorities of the Republic of Armenia, who have done nothing to help
resolve the problem of Javakhk,” the statement says.

“The core of the Javakhk problem is political. As long as Javakhk’s
political status is not clarified and Javakhk does not have guarantees
that Armenians will not be victimized, these issues will be impossible
to resolve,” council representative Razdan Madoyan said.

According to him, an overwhelming majority of Armenians in Armenia
are concerned about the problem of Javakhk because they understand
that it cannot be viewed in isolation. “On the one hand, it is the
question of Hay Dat [Armenian cause] and, on the other, it is the
question of Armenia’s physical survival because Javakhk is currently
the only possible link to Europe. We understand that if Armenians
leave the area, they will be replaced by Turks, which means that
Armenia will be complete blockaded,” he said.

Madoyan sees two possible scenarios: this will develop into either
another Naxcivan or another Karabakh. In his words, if Armenia wants
to continue its existence in the region as an independent state,
it should manage to preserve everything Armenian that remains there.

According to council representatives, Armenia should, if necessary,
send troops into Javakhk. Asked if Armenia was capable of fighting on
two fronts, council representative Gagik Ginosyan replied that this
would be a fourth front for Georgia. He said that one should not be
afraid of war if there was a threat of the motherland and national
dignity being lost and that Javakhk’s case was about the physical
survival of the republic of Armenia.