INFORMATION FROM JAVAKHK REACHES ARMENIA SOMEHOW DISTORTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.06.2006 14:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The information that reaches Armenia from Javakhk
is in a way distorted. The reason is clear, the information comes
either from Georgia or from relatives living in Akhalkalaki, Director
of the Caucasus Media Institute (CMI), political scientist Alexander
Iskandaryan stated in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words,
the situation there is really complicated and tensed. “The problem
can be divided into several parts. The first is the socio-economic
tension. The region is the poorest in Georgia. It was such in the
soviet period as well but at that time it received grants. Georgia is
not a state that can subsidy retarded regions. As a matter of fact,
the troubles of Javakhk are common for whole Georgia. All what is
earned there is seized for the state budget. Second, it’s the language
policy pursued by the Georgian authorities. A man who doesn’t know
Georgian cannot find a normal job. The problem always existed but
now it has become more pressing. There are no Armenian institutes
of higher education there, consequently there is little chance for
bringing up intelligentsia. There is only a branch of the Tbilisi
University in Akhalkalaki where ethnic Georgia who failed exams in
Tbilisi go,” he said. The Armenian political scientist also remarked
that the Armenian population thinks that the Georgian authorities
attempt to change the demographic situation in the region.

“Let’s just fancy that this happens not accidentally.

A remiss official orders to open an orphanage in Javakhk. The
population rates this as an attempt to change the demographic
situation. The deployment of the Georgian armed forces at the
border is rated the same way. They say “peaceful Armenians and
armed Georgians. Even if all this happens accidentally the population
perceives it as pressure from official Tbilisi. I think the authorities
should be cautious with the issue,” Alexander Iskandayan said.