Georgia Accused of Bullying Ethnic Armenians

Some Yerevan politicians say arrest of Armenian activists on espionage charges is attempt to intimidate the minority. Politicians in Armenia have been angered by the arrest in Georgia late last month of two ethnic Armenians charged with spying for Russia’s secret services. …
Georgian newspapers have barely mentioned the affair […].

Some Armenian politicians, however, have been furious and said the arrests were an attempt to intimidate their ethnic kin in Georgia.

Georgia’s state minister for re-integration Temur Lakobashvili said Russia had intensified espionage activities in the country since the August war over South Ossetia.

[…]

The lawyer for the two arrested ethnic Armenians, Nino Andriashvili, said they were accused of cooperating with a Belarus-based organisation allegedly set up by Russia’s Federal Security Service, FSB, called the Association for Legal Assistance to the Population, ALAP.

Andriashvili said the two men had admitted being involved in espionage, but denied a secondary charge of planning to create a private army. She said the investigators had a video of the two men discussing the creation of such an army with the local head of ALAP, but that they had not thought he was being serious.

[…]

Other NGOs in the region also filled in the forms, though they realised the questions were unusual.

“We all joked that this organisation reminded us of the FSB. And we were very surprised when we found out that they intended to spend so much money,” said the head of one NGO in Samtskhe-Javakheti, who asked to remain anonymous out of concerns that the criminal case might expand to take in other public figures.

“We were told that the possible projects were unlimited, and the money also. I have worked for many years in the non-governmental sector. When has there ever been money like that?”

The ALAP office in central Tbilisi closed a month ago. The telephones were disconnected, and they have not replied to emails.

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=349859&apc_state=henh

Demographic balance unlikely to change in Javakheti

29.01.2009 16:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia has better maintain the status quo that formed in Javakheti during the soviet era, an Armenian expert said.

“Meanwhile, the situation doesn’t meet the views of present-day Georgia’s, which eyes Armenian cultural figures as enemies,” political scientist Sergei Minasyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

The Armenian Diaspora and non-governmental organization can best address Javakheti problems, according to him. “Georgia, which is rapidly moving toward Europe, should be called to observe European values with respect for ethnic and religious minorities,” he said, adding that anti-Georgian attitude of mind doesn’t prevail in Armenia.

Commenting on arrests in Akhaltsikhe, the expert said it’s premature to make univocal statements. At that he remarked that the two arrested were linked to the Union of Armenian Aid NGO cosponsored by ARF Dashnaktsutyun.

Grigory Minasyan and Sargis Hakobjanyan were detained in Samtskhe Javakheti on January 22.

A criminal case in compliance with articles 18.1, 223.1 and 314 (formation of illegal armed unit and espionage) of the Georgian Penal Code was initiated.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=28394

Yet regardless of any real or exaggerated threat to Armenia, Russia has always been eager to manipulate the region’s conflicts—much to Tbilisi’s fury—in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and there is little reason to think that Russia would not similarly arm Javakheti separatists, were it ever so inclined. In fact, for years Tbilisi has accused Russia of colluding and inciting conflict in Javakheti, most recently in early March when protesters insisted that the violent death of a Javakh Armenian was ethnically motivated.

[…]

In contrast, however, Vahan Chakhalian, leader of the United Javakh-Democratic Alliance has said that the Russian withdrawal leaves local Armenians defenseless, and that United Javakh would therefore retaliate if Georgian troops tried to take their place—regardless of whether they came to relieve the farmers of their surplus produce. Starkly, such declarations are eerily similar to those put forward by Abkhazian and South Ossetian separatists in the early 1990’s, immediately preceding two very bloody conflicts, which have yet to be resolved.

Likewise, “Dashnaktsutiun,” a radical century-old political party in Armenia’s ruling parliamentary coalition, often reacts to Tbilisi’s policies in Javakheti by issuing heated press releases—even warning that discriminatory policies in Javakheti give the people “no other choice than the use of force to protect their interests and dignity.” It is worth noting, however, that Dashnaktsutiun seldom wins more than a handful of Armenia’s 131 parliament seats, and frequently threatens to leave the coalition for varying reasons.

http://justwars.org/2006/05/11/javakheti-georgia’s-contagious-separatism/

Leader of the United Javakh Alliance Vahagn Chakhalian does not rule out a possibility of an armed clash in the Armenian-populated area in Georgia, Samtskhe-Javakheti, taking into consideration similarity of the situation in the area with the one in Nagorno Karabakh in the Soviet time. Chakhalian made the announcement at a news conference in Yerevan on November 2. At the same time he noted that up to date the question is not vital.

http://www.regnum.ru/english/732617.html

The United Javakh statement warned about “destructive trends in the Georgian government’s policy” aimed at artificially creating a “climate of ethnic intolerance” and “crushing the will of Javakh’s Armenian population to protect its right to live in its motherland.” Finally the statement demands that Tbilisi show “political prudence” and put an end to the “infringement” of the Armenian community’s rights.

The content and tone of this and previous statements by United Javakh and other radical Armenian organizations reportedly have strong backing from political forces in Armenia. In fact, the statements recall the language used by the Armenian community in Karabakh in its relations with the Azerbaijani government before war erupted. Vardan Akopian, chair of the Javakh Youth organization, argued, “The current situation in Javakheti is a cross between situations in Nakhichevan and Karabakh.” Several protestors explicitly cited the Karabakh precedent.

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnewstt_news=31479

United Javakhk Democratic Alliance

The United Javakhk Democratic Alliance is a non-government organization composed of ethnic Armenians living in Samtskhe-Javakheti province of Georgia. It has, at various times, called for local autonomy for predominantly Armenian area of Javakheti known in Armenian as Javakh; whence the organization’s name. Its current leader is Vahagn Chakhalyan.

The movement has pursued contradictory policy, alternating sometime confrontational stance with the central Georgian government with more conciliatory rhetoric. It has its origin in the Javakh movement which emerged in 1988 and was instrumental in organizing the deployment of a small unit of Javakheti Armenians to the conflict with Azerbaijan over Mountainous Karabakh. Javakh has lobbied for the creation of an Armenian autonomous region within Georgia, and organized protests against the centrally proposed local administrators and Georgian military exercises early in the 1990s. During the civil strife in Tbilisi early in 1991, the Javakh exploited the constitutional vacuum and organized the Provisional Council of Representatives which self-dissolved after the local officials proposed by Tbilisi were finally accepted in November 1991. The organization proposed to hold a referendum on autonomy or secession of Javakheti in 1998, but, ridden by internal differences, failed to gather significant active popular support. Both the Georgian and Armenian governments has pursued a careful and calming policy in regard with local nationalist movements that helped ease tensions in the region.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Javakhk_Democratic_Alliance

1. If an area was ours for 500 years and yours for 50 years, it should belong to us - you are merely occupiers.

2. If an area was yours for 500 years and ours for 50 years, it should belong to us - borders must not be changed.

3. If an area belonged to us 500 years ago but never since then, it should belong to us - it is the Cradle of our Nation.

4. If a majority of our people live there, it must belong to us - they must enjoy the right of self-determination.

5. If a minority of our people live there, it must belong to us - they must be protected against your oppression.

6. All the above rules apply to us but not to you.

7. Our dream of greatness is Historical Necessity, yours is Fascism.

Georgia Police to comment on the arrest of two Armenians

26.01.2009 15:21

Gita Elibekyan
“Radiolur”

Tonight the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia will come forth with an official comment on the arrest of two Armenians in Javakhk, Shota Khizanishvili, the head of the Public Relations Department, told “Radiolur.”

Let us remind that on January 22 the law-enforcement bodies of Georgia detained two Javakhki Armenians Grigor Minasyan and Sargis Hakobjanyan for forming an illegal armed gang and spying. Armenian NGOs express their protest connected with the arrest.

“Yerkir” Union applies to international structures, noting that Georgia violates the rights of ethnic minorities counter to its commitments assumed with an international conventions.

http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=soc&id=14260

http://www.oneworld.am/photojournalism/javakhk/index.html