JAVAKHK IN PERIL: GEORGIAN STATE MACHINATIONS AND ARMENIAN APATHY
Kristine Aghalaryan

HETQ
2009/04/06 | 19:05

Region politics

The situation in Javakhk has been in the news of late and the problems
confronting the Armenian community there are being discussed and
debated in various social and political circles. But the debate seems
to be polarized.

The Georgians seem to be arguing that the only problems in Javakhk
are socio-economic in nature and it would appear that the Armenian
authorities share the same opinion, as witnessed by their parroting
of the words uttered by the Georgian foreign minister or by tacking
on the hackneyed phrase, "all outstanding issues will be resolved
within the framework of Armenian-Georgian friendship".

Players and Points of View

"The primary problems in Javakhk are of a social nature and those
forces or institutions that artificially seek to paint a different
picture and to increase tensions are simply carrying out the
wishes of outside third parties." This was the comment made by Hayk
Sanosyan, member of the directorate of the "Georgian-Armenian Unity"
NGO and Armenian national assembly deputy, at a March 18th press
conference. Mr. Sanosyan added that Javakhk Armenians do not presently
face issues regarding the preservation of their Armenian identity and
that there are no concerns along these lines in general. This statement
by the deputy, a Javakhk native, caused a degree of concern to Javakhk
Armenians in general and within their social-political organizations
in particular. Their response came in the form of a joint statement.

Mels Torosyan, president of the "Akounk Union" and editor of the
"Akounk" paper, responding to the statements of Hayk Sanosyan and
Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, noted that there is a
flawed perception of the issue by Armenian intellectuals and within
government circles since they haven’t examined the origins of the
problem nor its root causes.

Mr. Mels Torosyan says that, "Certain individuals have made a variety
of statements depending on their state of mind on the particular
day, their business interests or their desire to hold on to their
government job. They haven’t reflected on the possibility that their
statement might have a boomerang effect and negatively impact on
Javakhk Armenians and lead to their problems being overlooked."

The "Akounk" editor adds that they are in the midst of an information
war all over the world and that they cannot resist the blows
that are hailing down on them today. "Since the state mechanism is
working against us, there are forces that seek to pit us against one
another. For example, one such force was the Armenian parliamentarian
Hayk Sanosyan. Javakhk Armenians didn’t allow for the completion
of the jail’s construction or the destruction of a scenic piece
of nature for the health resort. In response, he makes statements
such as the Armenian community in Javakhk doesn’t face a national
problem. Someone should ask him just what he means by a "national"
problem," Mr. Torosyan asks.

It is the opinion of Mr. Torosyan that the Georgian state apparatus
has placed Hayk Sanosyan into such a corner that he is now longer
capable of stating what he thinks but rather must repeat what they
say. "Mr. Sanosyan is so deeply involved in various Georgian state
circles due to his business dealings that he is vulnerable to the
pressures they are exacting on him. His brother is now managing the
gasification project in Javakhk and a sewing factory bearing their
name operates in the city of Ninotzminda."

Mr. Hayk Sanosyan responds to the accusations being directed at him in
the following manner, "I’d answer those statements thusly. There are
two women in a village in Javakhk who are quarreling. One is immoral
and the other normal. The immoral one takes the initiative and attacks
the other, calling her immoral. The villagers gather and tell her
that they know she is the real immoral one and ask her why she is
slandering the other innocent woman in such a fashion. It’s the same
principle at work. Those individuals that really have connections to
these institutions are accusing us of the same thing. Not only do we
not have personal business interests in Javakhk but for the past five
years we’ve been making investments with funds from our pockets. And
we haven’t seen any profit in return till now. The only profit we
have seen is that people are now working in Javakhk. We have started
various businesses there with the aim of securing a livelihood for
the people, so that Javakhk Armenians stay put and don’t emigrate."

By naming the factories owned by his family in Javakhk, the flour
mill, the cheese plant in Akhalkalak and other smaller businesses,
Hayk Sanosyan argued that if the government was paying for gasification
in all the regions of Georgia, it was "family money" that was carrying
out gasification in Javakhk.

"It will be fifteen years until we recoup what we’ve spent. We have
other business elsewhere, like in Russia. We use those profits to
invest in Javakhk. It’s still not clear when we’ll see a profit out
of the Javakhk businesses," Mr. Sanosyan commented.

National Assembly Deputy Sanosyan doesn’t see any national problems in
Javakhk. "Maybe I’m not inclined to see such problems. Perhaps they
do exist. I always simply state that we shouldn’t constantly whine
about such problems but rather take steps to expand activities in
Javakhk and not always complain about this or that government policy,"
he states, adding that, "Georgia is, to a certain degree, dependent
on Turkey and Azerbaijan due to economic interests. Naturally, the
Georgian authorities can sometimes exhibit certain anti-Armenian
overtones to gain favor, but I wouldn’t say that they are intended
as anti-Armenian policy."

Where are the leaders in this community of 300,000?

Nevertheless, Mels Torosyan states that the situation in Javakhk
is getting worse by the day because the Georgian authorities are
operating according to a system previously set-up centuries ago and
not under the influence of the present moment.

"They have a problem with those national minorities that still reside
in concentrated clusters and they execute a policy towards them
that is beneficial to the central state authorities and the Georgian
nationality that makes up the government. Those national minorities
must either dissolve, or as they put it, integrate.

But their comprehension of integration is to change ones
national make-up, to give in, to forget our national interests and
values. Otherwise, they say , if you don’t want to go this route you
must leave this land because I must resettle the region with other
nationalities that can better protect my borders against outsiders,"
Mels Torosyan states.

Historical Sciences Candidate Khachatur Stepanyan also claims that,
in general, a political issue confronts the Armenian community
in Georgia. "Armenians make up ten per-cent of the population and
we have many noted professionals but there is not one Armenian in
Tbilisi who is employed in the mayor’s office or who has a normal
government job. There are many professionals out there but none
ever get appointed to government posts. They get passed over because
they’re Armenian. They persecuted, plundered and killed Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire because they were Armenians and the same situation
exists in Georgia. There may be some situational differences, but
the essence of the problem is the same," Mr. Stepanyan notes.

Mr. Stepanyan states, "There is no socio-economic explanation for the
fact that in the Akhalkalak region, where Georgians comprise only 5%,
they can have 30% representation in the regional council."

In the estimation of Davit Rstakyan, President of the "Virk Party"
and a deputy in the Akhalkalak regional council, the pressure exerted
by the Georgian authorities on Armenians is being carried out quite
deftly via the legislative process. Bills are being passed in the
Georgian parliament that directly infringe on the rights of national
minorities. Mr. Rstakyan singled out the "Education and Science Law"
that is now in practice and gradually be enforced. According to
Article Five of this law, all classroom instruction in schools in
Georgia must be in Georgian.

Furthermore, the Georgian education ministry has assumed the task of
securing Armenian textbooks for Armenian schools in Georgia. Vachagan
Rstakyan, an Armenian language instructor with over thirty years
experience at the Akhalkalak "Hovhannes Tumanyan" school, believes
that the Georgian education ministry wants to "make ends meet" by
using this textbooks in Armenian language schools in Georgia without
creating a prior academic or methodological base.

"If we were to show these texts of theirs to any professional standards
committee, we’d see that the books do not meet any accepted norms,
neither academically or in terms of methodology. This is a serious
blow to academic progress," the language instructor states.

The second legislative obligation, according to Davit Rstakyan, stems
from Article 9 of the local self-government charter where it states
that all sessions must be conducted in Georgian, even though 90% of
the deputies to the regional council cannot speak Georgian with any
proficiency. Furthermore, the Georgian law regarding employment if
the public sector states that in order for a citizen to be employed
at any government agency he/she must be proficient in Georgian. The
vast majority of Javakhk Armenians aren’t proficient in Georgian.