Georgia: Information from Javakhk Reaches Armenia Somehow Distorted

[Harold F. Schiffman]

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>>From PanARMENIAN.Net
URL: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=18419
Date: 13.06.2006 14:34 GMT+04:00


Information from Javakhk Reaches Armenia Somehow Distorted

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The information that reaches Armenia from Javakhk is in
a way distorted. The reason is clear, the information comes either from
Georgia or from relatives living in Akhalkalaki, Director of the Caucasus
Media Institute (CMI), political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan stated in
an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, the situation there is
really complicated and tensed. The problem can be divided into several
parts. The first is the socio-economic tension. The region is the poorest
in Georgia. It was such in the soviet period as well but at that time it
received grants. Georgia is not a state that can subsidy retarded regions.
As a matter of fact, the troubles of Javakhk are common for whole Georgia.
All what is earned there is seized for the state budget.

Second, its the language policy pursued by the Georgian authorities. A man
who doesnt know Georgian cannot find a normal job. The problem always
existed but now it has become more pressing. There are no Armenian
institutes of higher education there, consequently there is little chance
for bringing up intelligentsia. There is only a branch of the Tbilisi
University in Akhalkalaki where ethnic Georgia who failed exams in Tbilisi
go, he said.  The Armenian political scientist also remarked that the
Armenian population thinks that the Georgian authorities attempt to change
the demographic situation in the region.

Let's just fancy that this happens not accidentally. A remiss official
orders to open an orphanage in Javakhk. The population rates this as an
attempt to change the demographic situation. The deployment of the
Georgian armed forces at the border is rated the same way. They say
peaceful Armenians and armed Georgians. Even if all this happens
accidentally the population perceives it as pressure from official
Tbilisi. I think the authorities should be cautious with the issue,
Alexander Iskandayan said.

full text of the interview is at
http://www.panarmenian.net/interviews/eng/?nid=42

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/print/?nid=18419