The conference was held in order to discuss the law about local
autonomy in Georgia. After the conference, it was decided to accept the
announcement made for Georgian authorities on turning Georgia into a
federal republic and grant autonomy to the Armenians living in Javakhk.
According to Armenian MP of the Georgian parliament Van Bayburdyan, the
clause stating Javakhk’s autonomy has been included in the law with the
help of strong Armenian authority figures. According to sources, the
NGO/political organizations are angry at the Georgian authorities for
having strong ties with criminals and trying to control the
organizations with their help. They have responded to the Georgian
authorities by doing the same thing.
According to leader of the “Hzor Hayrenik” (Strong Nation) political
party Vardan Vardapetyan, there is such a national/political
environment in Javakhk that it will be impossible for anyone to make
the situation worse by committing criminal acts. He claims that there
are so many unsolved problems in Javakhk and that the Armenians living
in Javakhk are giving their objective complaints. “There is absolutely
no district rule in Javakhk. The so-called leaders have no power and
can not solve any problem. Everything is connected to Tbilisi and many
complain about that,” says Mr. Vardapetyan. Mr. Vardapetyan believes
that the situation has changed and that the Javakhk Armenians are
trying to take advantage of the democratic processes. In his opinion,
nothing unusual has happened. The only thing that has happened is the
discussion led on the law about local autonomies in Georgia and the
suggestions made by some people present at the conference about turning
the country into a federal republic. “That was only a suggestion and
that can not be considered something which will later become a
demonstration. This is not something which will separate the people
from each other. This is just a way to raise the level of understanding
of what it means to have a district,’ said the leader of “Hzor
Hayrenik” (Strong Nation) political party. The adviser to the Prime
Minister of Armenia Stepan Markaryan also believes that the situation
at hand is not that tense like the press claims. According to S.
Markaryan, despite the fact that the word “autonomy” was stated in the
announcement, that doesn’t refer to real autonomy. “We are talking
about raising the level of local autonomy because local authorities
today have no power whatsoever,” says Mr. Markaryan. Both V.
Vardapetyan and S. Markaryan claim that neither a social nor a
political demonstration has begun for the autonomy issue. There have
been no demonstrations held for autonomy either. “There has been no
demonstration and better yet, there hasn’t been any need for that. It
was just a conference where we suggested using a model,” explains the
adviser to the Prime Minister. Some people think that the situation in
Javakhk is being created by the third type of forces. Don’t the people
who are being interviewed by us think that maybe there are some forces
who are taking advantage of the people’s complaints about the
social/economic status of Javakhk? The leader of the “Hzor Hayrenik”
(Strong Nation) political party believes that it is obvious that some
political forces will take advantage of the situation at hand and
emphasizes how important it is for both Armenian and Georgian
authorities to take serious action so that the processes don’t take a
different course. After all, they have to make sure the people benefit
from all of this. “The authorities of the two countries must solve
Javakhk’s problems without applying any other standards,” says V.
Vardapetyan. As for S. Markaryan, he is of the opinion that nothing can
be excluded. The adviser to the Prime Minister of Armenia believes that
the third type of forces is the one creating this situation. “In any
case, we must be careful because this is not something that happened
and now it’s over. Anything that is said or done leaves a trace. Nobody
says anything out of nowhere, I mean, there are bases to it or there
will be some in the near future. Georgia must be attentive,” he says
and adds: “Even if all of this is created by some forces, nothing can
be created if there is no basis for that.” No official statement has
been made on this occasion by the Georgian side. It appears that
Armenia is not rushing on making any response to the issue concerning
Javakhk’s local autonomy issue. We asked Chief of the Public Relation
Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RA Hamlet
Gasparyan to comment on the situation in Javakhk. Mr. Gasparyan only
said that there is a dialogue going on between presidents of both
countries and they seem to come to terms with one another. “We don’t
even need to respond to all of this. There are many things taking place
in Georgia and we mustn’t always take action,” said Chief of Public
Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In any case, today Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Nogaideli and his
delegation will visit Armenia with the purpose of participating in the
4th session of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental conference.
According to adviser to the Prime Minister of the RA S. Markaryan, the
discussions led on the autonomy of Javakhk are not set on the agenda.
“We hope that the situation will not get worse. Armenia accepts the
fact that the society in Javakhk is facing a difficult situation and
our country is ready to take steps in order to alleviate the situation
in Javakhk,” says S. Markaryan.
P.S. We will try to present the opinion stated by the Georgian
Embassy in Armenia regarding the announcement made by the NGOs and
political organizations of Javakhk in our next edition.