Things are once again heating up in Metskhet-Javakheti, which is a region in Georgia with a large Armenian population. This time, the epicenter is the village of Gorelovka in the region of Ninotsminda, where there is a debate going on between the Armenian and Georgian residents and permanent residents regarding the agricultural lands.
Gorelovka was one of the villages of the region which was populated with dukhobors (residents of the village) until recently. After Georgia’s independence the missionaries, which had been exiled to the “Caucasus Siberia” from Russia in the 18th century, started to emigrate. Most of them emigrated to Canada or Russia. As time passed, the Armenians and Georgians bought their homes in Ninotsminda. The dukhobors, who were used to living in a closed community, had normal relations with the newcomers after a while. Debates began when the newcomers of Gorelovka started to go after the agricultural lands which Javakhk does not have many of. The lands are measured to be 2000 hectares, and according to the “newcomers”, one part of the land has not been cultivated. After the economic collapse, which was the best in meat and milk production in Georgia during the Soviet Union, the dubokhors had formed an agricultural cooperative team and rented the lands which later turned into an issue. Let’s not forget to mention the fact that those lands had been donated to them by world famous Rusio emperor. The regional council accept that fact but also state that it is not registered in documents. For some reason, the contract for rent is not registered in the corresponding registers. Besides that, the district did not pay any taxes to the state budget during those years. The newcomers who are keeping their eyes on the lands are ready to pay the required taxes even if the crop doesn’t harvest. They claim that the remaining dubokhors in Gorelovka simply can not cultivate the lands and there are very few enabled people left. “Back in the day, the 1000 hectare arable land and approximately 1500 hectares of agricultural lands were provided to the 700 dubokhor families, but now there are only 100 families left in the village. There is a shortage in cultivators. As far as I know, this year, for example, all the mowed grass is lost. The Armenians and Georgians living here had no land. I must say that there were people who did not enter a cooperative team at the time and now they are demanding land distribution,” says MP of the parliament, one of the leaders of the “Armenian Community of Georgia” Van Baibut.
The new council of the Ninotsminda region has decided to redistribute the lands by providing each family with 20 hectares of land. It is doing this taking into consideration the situation in Gorelovka. We are not referring to bringing back justice in society, but rather, it’s about the taxes that the dubokhor community has not paid and does not intend on doing so. They base their decision on the decision made by empress Yekaterina. According to that decision, the dubokhors do not have to pay taxes. Redistribution has become a reason for villagers to fight against each other, there have even been minor conflicts. Fortunately, nothing serious has happened.
As chief police of the Ninotsminda region Samvel Yeritsyan told “168 hours”, the situation in Gorelovka is calm. “True, the district chiefs keep on considering that their rights have been violated and they are appealing to different court instances. They complain about the unjust decision made by the regional council with the hope that they will get back their lands. But to tell you the truth, the new decision eliminated injustice. How were the rest of the residents of Gorelovka going to earn a living?”said Samvel Yeritsyan.