ARMENIANS OF ABKHAZIA HAVE MANPOWER PROBLEMS

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 14 2006

On December 14 the Friday Club hosted the representatives of the
Armenian community of Abkhazia, who presented the present state of the
community. Their words made a controversial impression because although
the secular and spiritual leaders state that after the war, especially
in the recent years, the economic state has improved in Abkhazia,
which affects the local Armenians as well, they nevertheless point
to a number of problems, which need a complex and fundamental solution.

The Armenian member of the Abkhazian parliament Galust Trapizonyan says
the Armenians who count 60 thousand are the second among the Abkhazian
population of 230 thousand. However, they have few representatives to
the system of public administration of Abkhazia: three representatives
to the parliament with 35 members, three deputy ministers, three
deputies of governors and one minister. Galust Trapizonyan admits
that the number of Armenians in the public administration system
are not equivalent to the number of the Armenian community in
Abkhazia. However, he says, it is the fault of the Armenian community,
who are not active enough. After the war the Armenians had more
representatives to the Abkhazian government, Trapizonyan says, but
the economic conditions forced a lot of people to leave Abkhazia.

Galust Trapizonyan says the community has a manpower problem and the
reason why the Armenians have few representatives in the government
is that there are no professionals who would represent the Armenian
community in the government. The assistance of the Armenian government
may help to fill in this gap, which provides a quota in Armenian
universities for Armenian students from Abkhazia. But there are two
problems. First, most young people who come to study here do not go
back. Second, many young people cannot come at all because they cannot
afford air tickets, accommodation and food in Armenia, if they have
no relatives in Armenia. Yet there is another problem. The quotas
include teacher training, while Galust Trapizonyan says although
there is a lack of teachers in the Armenian community, there is lack
of other specialists as well. Therefore, a lot of Armenian young
people prefer to go study in Russia because it is cheaper and there
is a wider range of quotas for the young people of Abkhazia.

Due to this reality fewer Armenians study in the Armenian schools
than the Russian schools in Abkhazia because they prefer to continue
their education in Russia. However, Galust Trapizonyan says there is
considerable assistance from Armenia, especially considering that the
Armenian community of Abkhazia did not get any assistance from abroad
until 1999. Now they are getting assistance from Russia because 92
percent are citizens of Russia, and benefits and pensions are paid
under the Russian laws.

The representative of the Armenian community also says that they are in
close cooperation with the Armenian communities of Russia. But several
years ago, for instance, when they took a step towards setting up
relations with the Union of Armenians of Russia, they got a negative
answer – you are an unrecognized state. Galust Trapizonyan says this
attitude of Armenians towards Armenians surprised them.

"Now that the situation has changed, they already want, but we
are reluctant," says Galust Trapizonyan, mentioning that they want
to increase the number of their members by including 60 thousand
Armenians of Abkhazia, but they do not want to be used as amount.