ETHNIC OVERTONES IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI CLASH

The Messenger, Georgia
March 16 2006

The aftershocks of an apparent restaurant fight that left one man
dead in the multi-ethnic Tsalka district illustrate how sensitive
local nerves are to speculations of ethnic-based violence and how
sensitive Georgian politics is to reports of tension.

On March 9 in Tsakla an argument took place in a restaurant between
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Svanetians, Georgians who had been moved
to the region in the early 1990s. It was widely reported in Georgian
press that a fight fueled by alcohol broke out between the two groups
after a disagreement on music playing in the venue.

During the conflict a 23-year-old ethnic Armenian, Gevork Gevorkian,
was killed. Police arrested 5 suspects shortly afterwards and a
representative of the Public Defender’s representative went to Tsalka
at once. As the newspaper 24 Saati quotes Public Defender Sozar Subari
as saying, “We concluded that this was not an ethnic confrontation –
it was just an ordinary struggle.”

But the aftermath of the fight and death is far from ordinary. A group
of Armenian residents, who comprise 57 percent of the population in
Tsalka, called for a lynching of the suspects and raided the local
administrative building. It has been reported that police at the time
stood down in order not to incite a larger conflict.

The Tsalka aftershocks spread to Akhalkalaki, the central city in the
region, where on March 12 an Armenian NGO held a protest action about
the incident. According to 24-Saati, the action grew to anti-Georgian
statements. Eventually the crowd stormed in the local branch of the
Tbilisi State University and the local court building. Finally the
angry mob targeted the bishop’s office of the region after hearing
Georgians were keeping weapons there. The newspaper Akhali Taoba
reports law enforcers and the bishop’s administration agreed to allow
some of the protesters inside; once they confirmed no weapons were
there, the crowd dispersed.

What transpired over these four days is prone to exaggeration and
sensationalism. But the organizer of the initial protest has already
disavowed the mob’s behavior. “There were agents in the action that
called on the population to destroy the university. We did not plan
this,” a member of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Public Organization Council
Khachatur Stepanian told the newspaper 24-Saati. Still the council
plans to hold new, peaceful protests in the near future. “First of all
we demand that government affairs be conducted in Armenian language
and that Armenians stay safe as well,” the newspaper Khvalindeli Dghe
quotes council members as saying.

At the same time, the events in Akhalkalaki have irritated Georgian
society. “Samtskhe-Javakheti separatists want war with Georgians”
on Georgian newspaper, Akhali Taoba, wrote. Many representatives of
the Armenian Diaspora in Tbilisi have countered that the behavior of
the rioters must not me connected with the entire Armenian population
in Javakheti. “There doesn’t exist in Javakheti any anti-Georgian
position. It is impossible for Armenians to have an anti-Georgian
position,” says MP Van Baiburt in Akhali Taoba.

Georgian authorities have attributed the Akhalkalaki incident
to outside forces. The presidential representative in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region Goga Khachidze says the conflict is
likely tied to Russian special services and resent opposition
demonstrations. He also calls on Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze
to pay more attention to the situation.

Burjanadze on her part also blames ‘outside forces.’ As quoted in the
newspaper Akhali Taoba she said, “The criminals must be punished. It
is obvious that certain forces are apt to create a confrontation
between Georgians and non-Georgians. I am certain that Georgians
and non-Georgians will maximally try not to pay attention to these
provocations.”

Critics accuse the government however of being lackadaisical to the
ethnic dynamics in motion in the Javakheti region. “The president will
have to explain why he does not pay attention to the region, why he
did not work out a Samtskhe-javakheti development plan, why he did
not suggest for Armenians working in Russian markets any alternative
[work] besides potato selling,” wrote the newspaper Akhali Taoba.

It is tragic that the death of Gevork Gevorkian happened in the first
place and it should be also disconcerting for the Georgian government
that local residents have such little faith in the government’s due
process. An effective interactive dialogue with national minorities
in the region still needs development in the region; at the same time,
economic development of the region is also urgently needed.