Azerbaijanis in Georgia demand dismantling Mikhail Avagyan’s statue

Panorama, Armenia
Feb 8 2019
17:17 08/02/2019

A group of Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani origin held protest outside the building of Georgian parliament on Friday demanding to remove the statue of Karabakh war hero Michael Avagyan that was unveiled in Bugashen village of Georgia’s Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

According to social media posts, the protesters accused Avagyan for ‘separatism’ and asserted that erection of the statue undermines Georgian-Azerbaijani friendly relations.

The statue is of a native to the region – Mikhael Avagyan, who died during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, was solemnly opened on January 20 in his native village. The ceremony was attended by the Armenian Ambassador Ruben Sadoyan, the head of the district administration, the local government as well as members of the Georgian parliaments of Armenian origin.
This has caused outrage on social media and a strong reaction from Azerbaijan, that even summoned the Georgian Ambassador in Baku.

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS