National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 9:00 PM EST
April 28, 2006 Friday

Georgia May Face Breakaway by Armenians

ANCHORS: MELISSA BLOCK
REPORTERS: IVAN WATSON

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Relations between Russia and the small former Soviet Republic of
Georgia have been getting steadily worse. A revolution swept a
pro-Western government to power in Georgia two years ago. Recently,
Moscow agreed to withdraw a military base from a community in
southern Georgia. The U.S. has stepped in with aid money to prevent
ethnic passions from flaring in the area. NPR’s Ivan Watson traveled
to the mountains of southern Georgia and filed this report.

IVAN WATSON reporting:

When the snow melts in Alkhankalaki, it turns the road running
through the town’s main market into one long, muddy puddle. Russian
soldiers in green uniforms wander through the market alongside locals
who almost all speak Armenian. The street signs are written in
Armenian, too, along with Russian and Georgian, and Armenian dance
tunes blare from bootleg music shops.

(Soundbite of music)

WATSON: For a moment, it’s hard to tell what country you’re in.
That’s because most of the residents are ethnic Armenians who can’t
even speak the Republic’s official language, Georgian. Some of them,
like this schoolteacher named Ofelia Ambartonmien(ph), say they’re
suffering from an identity crisis.

Ms. OFELIA AMBARTONMIEN (Resident, Georgia): (Foreign language
spoken)

WATSON: Who are we, she asks. We were educated in Russian schools. We
are also ethnic Armenians. But we live in Georgia. It’s very
difficult, she adds, to understand what our identity is. To
complicate matters, the locals here often appear to have stronger
ties to Russia than to the Georgian government in Tbilisi. That’s
partly because the Russian military base on the edge of town is the
single largest employer in an otherwise impoverished region. And now
it’s due to be closed. Nearly everyone you talk to in Alkhankalaki
opposes that decision.

(Soundbite of men speaking foreign language)

WATSON: There’s no other work here aside from the Russian base,
complain these young, unemployed Armenian men, who spend their days
hanging out in a local gambling hall.

Mr. ARMEN POGASIEN(ph) (Resident, Georgia): (Foreign language spoken)

WATSON: The Russian soldiers are like peacekeepers. They protect us,
says 29- year-old Armen Pogasien. We don’t want a conflict with the
Georgians, he adds. Some here complain that the Georgian government
in Tbilisi discriminates against the Armenians here. Nonsense, says
Alexander Rundeli(ph), a Georgian political scientist.

Mr. ALEXANDER RUNDELI (Georgian political scientist): Armenian
minority is brainwashed quite seriously by, you know, Russians
standing there, you know, staying there as military base.

WATSON: But high unemployment and the presence of a disaffected
ethnic minority are dangerous ingredients in the Caucasus, which has
already had its share of separatist ethnic conflicts. Artur Shambert
Sumyan(ph) is an ethnic Armenian and a former adviser to the Georgian
president. He says dark forces are at work, promoting a separatist
movement among the Armenians here.

Mr. ARTUR SHAMBERT SUMYAN (Former advisor to president of Georgia):
(Through Translator) We need to be very careful right now. The
Russians will leave in 2008. Neighboring countries are trying to
create problems between Armenians and Georgians, and we have to make
sure that doesn’t happen.

WATSON: Tbilisi is already struggling with two separatist regions
which broke away from Georgia in the ’90s and are, to this day,
supported by Russia. The U.S. is keen to help the Georgian government
avoid making the same mistake with its ethnic Armenian minority. Matt
Bryza of the U.S. State Department says the U.S. is giving Tbilisi
aid money and advice to help boost the local economy after the
Russian military leaves.

Mr. MATTHEW J. BRYZA (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
European and Eurasian Affairs): Well, yeah, we’re watching it, we’re
concerned, but we’re also actively involved in trying to improve the
situation.

WATSON: U.S. aid money will help build a new highway through
Alkhankalaki, but the ethnic tensions have not gone away. Last month,
Georgian TV reported that the murder of an ethnic Armenian in another
town triggered a riot here, as several hundred Armenians stormed a
university and a courthouse. Artur Shamberg Sumyan, the former
adviser to the Georgian president, is calling for calm.

Mr. SUMYAN: (Foreign language spoken)

WATSON: He says the world’s oldest Christians are Georgians and
Armenians. If a fight breaks out between these two ancient peoples,
he adds, it will mean the death of Christianity in the Caucasus.

Ivan Watson, NPR News.