JAVAKHK ARMENIANS REITERATE CALLS FOR AUTONOMY IN TALKS WITH EU REPRESENTATIVES

/javakhk-armenians-reiterate-calls-for-autonomy-in -talks-with-eu-representatives/
May 21st, 2009

AKHALKALAK (A-Info)-Representatives of several Javakhk Armenian
organizations met in a closed-door session Wednesday with
representatives of the European Union in Georgia to address issues of
concern to the predominantly Armenian population in Samtskhe-Javakheti
and urge support for the granting of autonomy to the region.

According to sources at the meeting, the local organizational
leaders reiterated their call for the creation of federated
Georgian republic, whereby Javakhk would be granted autonomy under
the proposed federation. They assured that this proposal would not
threaten Georgia’s territorial integrity, but rather facilitate a
quick resolution to concerns facing local populations.

They also assured the EU representation that the Armenian population
of Javakhk was fully integrated within Georgian society and were
striving to live their lives as Georgians by taking part in local,
state and federal elections and other similar processes.

The Armenian organizational leaders told the EU representative that
their continued appeals to Tbilisi have gone unanswered, indicating
the government’s unwillingness to address the concerns of its citizens
in Javakhk.

The EU representatives, for their part, acknowledged receipt of a
report from an EU fact-finding mission to the area several months ago,
adding that the report served as the impetus for the representative’s
visit to the region.

Javakhk Armenians are mainly seeking the adoption of Armenian as
an official language in the region, the inclusion of Armenians
in local governmental structures and the establishment of a joint
Armenian-Georgian state university in the area.

The requests come in response to the deteriorating socio-economic
conditions in the province. Residents in Javakh say the central
authorities in Tbilisi have been engaged in a systematic campaign of
discrimination against the Armenian population.

This sentiment was discussed at the meeting with the Armenian leaders
expressing concern over government policies aimed at ridding the area
of its indigenous Armenian population.

Official inaction toward the deliberate rejection of Armenians in
public institutions and the hiring of Georgians in local government
offices, as well as the continued conflict between the Armenian and
Georgian churches were cited as examples.