Mediamax news agency, Armenia
July 25 2008

YEREVAN SAYS ETHNIC ARMENIANS FACING "POLITICAL PERSECUTION" IN
GEORGIA

Yerevan, 25 July: The Armenian Foreign Ministry is monitoring "the
developments in [Georgia’s] Samtskhe-Javakheti Province, maintaining
daily communications at different levels and directions," an official
representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan, told
Mediamax while commenting on the recent developments in Georgia’s
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti Province.

Balayan expressed hope that "the situation will be settled calmly and
within the law".

On 24 July the Armenian opposition New Times Party made a statement
calling on the Armenian authorities to react to the situation in
Samtskhe-Javakheti Province.

"The situation recently again started to deteriorate in the
Armenian-populated Javakheti. Forces that try to maintain the national
identity of Armenians are facing political persecutions by the
Georgian authorities," the statement said.