RUSSIA FAILS TO STIR TENSIONS IN ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGION – SENIOR GEORGIAN MP
Kavkas-Press
March 2 2009
Georgia
Tbilisi, 2 March: According to the chairman of the parliament’s foreign
relations committee, Akaki Minashvili, Georgia has good-neighbourly
and constructive relations with the Armenian authorities and all
citizens in Samtskhe-Javakheti Province [part of which is populated
predominately by ethnic Armenians] live calmly and in peace.
Minashvili was commenting on the protest rally held last week outside
the Georgian embassy in Armenia by local nationalist organizations
under the demand to release "innocent Armenians" [reference to two
ethnic Armenians arrested in Samtskhe-Javakheti on 23 January on
charges of spying for a foreign country].
"A certain group of people is trying with the help of the Russian
special services to provoke something, but they have made no progress
whatsoever to this end," Minashvili said.
"Our citizens in Samtskhe-Javakheti, like in other regions, feel calm
and peaceful irrespective of their ethnic origin," he added.
The MP said that "infrastructure rebuilding efforts are actively under
way in Samtskhe-Javakheti, and repair works on the road connecting
the region to the rest of Georgia will be finished soon. Furthermore,
Georgian language teaching programmes are actively under way under
the aegis of the Education Ministry and work on protecting the rights
of ethnic minorities is ongoing".
It should be pointed out that Parliament Speaker Davit Bakradze visited
Armenia in late February. During the visit, he met Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan. The main topics of the closed meeting were cooperation
and political and economic relations between the two countries.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
