GEORGIA INITIATES NEW TRIALS AGAINST JAVAKHK ACTIVISTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 12:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Georgian authorities initiated new trials
against Javakhk activists – Gurgen Shirinyan and Aram Batoyan.

In October 2009, Akhalkalaki regional court sentenced Gurgen Shirinyan
to three years in prison on charges of hooliganism (judgment by
default). Aram Batoyan, the head of Javakhk sports and culture union,
was accused of illegal possession of arms allegedly found during a
search in the union’s premises on July 21, 2008 (judgment by default).

With these trials, the Georgian authorities intend to establish
a regime of state terrorism and keep the Armenian population in
awe, Yerkir Union said in a statement, calling on the international
organizations and diplomatic outposts accredited to Georgia to address
the situation in Javakhk and put an end to repressions.

Javakhk is first mentioned under this very name in "Armenian History"
by the V c. historian Movses Khorenatsy in regard to the administrative
reforms realized by king Vagharshak. Regardless of the different
interpretations of the list of the kings of the pre-Christian period,
all the researchers agree that the aforementioned events date as far
back as the II c. BC. In the IV c.

BC Javakhk was the summer residence of the Georgian king Parnavaz,
"In autumn and spring he lived in the city of Mtskhet , in summer in
Javakhet and in winter in Ganchenk". About 185 BC, Artashes I annexed
the province to Metz Hayk Kingdom , while in 37 AD it became part of
Georgia .

In the IV c. AD Javakhk is mentioned in the description of St. Nune’s
journey to Mtskhet,"… and in June I came to Mount Javakhet, and to
the Parnava Sea, and when I came there I saw fishermen by the sea and
shepherds on the seashore…". When Armenia was first divided between
Byzantium and Sassanid Persia, Javakhk was annexed to the Georgian
Province headed by the Marzpan (the governor) of the province, along
with the other provinces of Gugark Region.

The Armenian-Georgian war for Javakhk started on December 5, 1918 and
was stopped after British interference on December 31. An agreement
signed in Tiflis in January 1919 stated that the northern part of
Borchalinsky district passed on to Georgia, the southern part passed
on to Armenia while the middle (Lori and Zangezur) was announced a
"neutral zone" and was under control of British governor-general.

In 1921, Turkish troops intruded into Javakhk, meeting no resistance
from the Georgian army. As a result of the intrusion, half of the
region’s population died.

After establishment of the soviet rule in Georgia, Javakhk issue
was raised again. Overwhelming majority of the province stood for
joining Armenia. A final decision was taken at the plenary session
of the Caucasus Bureau and was forwarded to consideration of the
Georgian Communist Party’s Central Committee, which decreed that
"taking into account Akhalkalaki’s political and economic ties with
Tiflis, the proposals of our Armenian comrades is unacceptable."