SAAKASHVILI: SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI "COMPLETELY INTEGRATED INTO GEORGIA"
By Anna Kamushadze
The Messenger, Georgia
June 26 2007
President Mikheil Saakashvili took a tour through Samtskhe-Javakheti
on June 21, meeting with local residents and opening new facilities.
The president focused on the successes and possible future of the
province, where over half of the population are of Armenian descent.
"There are three main factors in this region: one is stability and
calm, the second is the permanent supply of electricity, which is
very important, and the third is good roads," the president declared.
Saakashvili promised that the province will not be neglected.
"During my first term as president, none of the main roads in
Javakheti…will remain in poor condition," he said. Saakashvili
went on to talk of the attractive landscape, natural resources, and
historical treasure of the area, home to Borjomi’s mineral water
springs and the Vardzia cave monasteries. These bode well for the
development of the province, he says, where the poverty rate tops 60
percent and many residents claim to be marginalized by the state.
"A very important thing has happened in this region over the past
few years which many people cannot yet see. This region has become
completely integrated into Georgia."
Saakashvili, touring a new dairy factory in the village of Spasovka,
illustrated his optimism by holding aloft a piece of cheese on
a toothpick.
"This is not just cheese," he proclaimed to journalists, "this is
the combination of stability, roads and electricity."
Saakashvili also traveled to Akhalkalaki district, where he met
students who failed to pass university entrance exams because they
did not know Georgian. Saakashvili promised that stipends would be
given to prospective university students in the province to encourage
them on their way to a higher education.
It’s proposed that from August, 100 students from the majority ethnic
Armenian districts of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda will receive grants
to enroll in Tbilisi schools to learn Georgian. Students from the
impoverished districts now must go to Minsk, Yerevan, Kiev or Russia
to continue their education in Russian.
"I offer you a solution-stay in Georgia and learn in your home
country. We will guarantee you the best education in the whole region,"
Saakashvili told the students.
Political analyst Archil Gegeshidze doubts that there are any links
between Saakashvili’s visit to Samtskhe-Javakheti and the current
discussions on repatriating Meskhetians (most commonly referred to as
Meskhetian Turks). Rather, he sees this trip as an effort to obviate
coming disaffection in the region.
"I think the president went there to somehow bring attention to the
region. After the withdrawal of the Russian bases [Russian military
bases, slated for withdrawal in 2008, are a major employer in the
region] a lot of people will be unemployed. They need to be integrated
into greater Georgian society and treated carefully. I think that’s
why the president himself visited the region," Gegeshidze told The
Messenger.