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Javakhk in Peril: Georgian State Machinations and Armenian Apathy
The situation in Javakhk has been in the news of late and the problems confronting the Armenian community there are being discussed and debated in various social and political circles. But the debate seems to be polarized. The Georgians seem to be arguing that the only problems in Javakhk are socio-economic in nature and it would appear that the Armenian authorities share the same opinion, as witnessed by their parroting of the words uttered by the Georgian foreign minister or by tacking on the hackneyed phrase, “all outstanding issues will be resolved within the framework of Armenian-Georgian friendship”.
Players and Points of View
“The primary problems in Javakhk are of a social nature and those forces or institutions that artificially seek to paint a different picture and to increase tensions are simply carrying out the wishes of outside third parties.” This was the comment made by Hayk Sanosyan, member of the directorate of the “Georgian-Armenian Unity” NGO and Armenian national assembly deputy, at a March 18th press conference. Mr. Sanosyan added that Javakhk Armenians do not presently face issues regarding the preservation of their Armenian identity and that there are no concerns along these lines in general. This statement by the deputy, a Javakhk native, caused a degree of concern to Javakhk Armenians in general and within their social-political organizations in particular. Their response came in the form of a joint statement.
Mels Torosyan, president of the “Akounk Union” and editor of the “Akounk” paper, responding to the statements of Hayk Sanosyan and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, noted that there is a flawed perception of the issue by Armenian intellectuals and within government circles since they haven’t examined the origins of the problem nor its root causes.
Mr. Mels Torosyan says that, “Certain individuals have made a variety of statements depending on their state of mind on the particular day, their business interests or their desire to hold on to their government job. They haven’t reflected on the possibility that their statement might have a boomerang effect and negatively impact on Javakhk Armenians and lead to their problems being overlooked.”
The “Akounk” editor adds that they are in the midst of an information war all over the world and that they cannot resist the blows that are hailing down on them today. “Since the state mechanism is working against us, there are forces that seek to pit us against one another. For example, one such force was the Armenian parliamentarian Hayk Sanosyan. Javakhk Armenians didn’t allow for the completion of the jail’s construction or the destruction of a scenic piece of nature for the health resort. In response, he makes statements such as the Armenian community in Javakhk doesn’t face a national problem. Someone should ask him just what he means by a “national” problem,” Mr. Torosyan asks.
It is the opinion of Mr. Torosyan that the Georgian state apparatus has placed Hayk Sanosyan into such a corner that he is now longer capable of stating what he thinks but rather must repeat what they say. “Mr. Sanosyan is so deeply involved in various Georgian state circles due to his business dealings that he is vulnerable to the pressures they are exacting on him. His brother is now managing the gasification project in Javakhk and a sewing factory bearing their name operates in the city of Ninotzminda.”
Mr. Hayk Sanosyan responds to the accusations being directed at him in the following manner, “I’d answer those statements thusly. There are two women in a village in Javakhk who are quarreling. One is immoral and the other normal. The immoral one takes the initiative and attacks the other, calling her immoral. The villagers gather and tell her that they know she is the real immoral one and ask her why she is slandering the other innocent woman in such a fashion. It’s the same principle at work. Those individuals that really have connections to these institutions are accusing us of the same thing. Not only do we not have personal business interests in Javakhk but for the past five years we’ve been making investments with funds from our pockets. And we haven’t seen any profit in return till now. The only profit we have seen is that people are now working in Javakhk. We have started various businesses there with the aim of securing a livelihood for the people, so that Javakhk Armenians stay put and don’t emigrate.”
By naming the factories owned by his family in Javakhk, the flour mill, the cheese plant in Akhalkalak and other smaller businesses, Hayk Sanosyan argued that if the government was paying for gasification in all the regions of Georgia, it was “family money” that was carrying out gasification in Javakhk.
“It will be fifteen years until we recoup what we’ve spent. We have other business elsewhere, like in Russia. We use those profits to invest in Javakhk. It’s still not clear when we’ll see a profit out of the Javakhk businesses,” Mr. Sanosyan commented.
National Assembly Deputy Sanosyan doesn’t see any national problems in Javakhk. “Maybe I’m not inclined to see such problems. Perhaps they do exist. I always simply state that we shouldn’t constantly whine about such problems but rather take steps to expand activities in Javakhk and not always complain about this or that government policy,” he states, adding that, “Georgia is, to a certain degree, dependent on Turkey and Azerbaijan due to economic interests. Naturally, the Georgian authorities can sometimes exhibit certain anti-Armenian overtones to gain favor, but I wouldn’t say that they are intended as anti-Armenian policy.”
Where are the leaders in this community of 300,000?
Nevertheless, Mels Torosyan states that the situation in Javakhk is getting worse by the day because the Georgian authorities are operating according to a system previously set-up centuries ago and not under the influence of the present moment.
“They have a problem with those national minorities that still reside in concentrated clusters and they execute a policy towards them that is beneficial to the central state authorities and the Georgian nationality that makes up the government. Those national minorities must either dissolve, or as they put it, integrate. But their comprehension of integration is to change ones national make-up, to give in, to forget our national interests and values. Otherwise, they say , if you don’t want to go this route you must leave this land because I must resettle the region with other nationalities that can better protect my borders against outsiders,” Mels Torosyan states.
Historical Sciences Candidate Khachatur Stepanyan also claims that, in general, a political issue confronts the Armenian community in Georgia. “Armenians make up ten per-cent of the population and we have many noted professionals but there is not one Armenian in Tbilisi who is employed in the mayor’s office or who has a normal government job. There are many professionals out there but none ever get appointed to government posts. They get passed over because they’re Armenian. They persecuted, plundered and killed Armenians in the Ottoman Empire because they were Armenians and the same situation exists in Georgia. There may be some situational differences, but the essence of the problem is the same,” Mr. Stepanyan notes.
Mr. Stepanyan states, “There is no socio-economic explanation for the fact that in the Akhalkalak region, where Georgians comprise only 5%, they can have 30% representation in the regional council.”
In the estimation of Davit Rstakyan, President of the “Virk Party” and a deputy in the Akhalkalak regional council, the pressure exerted by the Georgian authorities on Armenians is being carried out quite deftly via the legislative process. Bills are being passed in the Georgian parliament that directly infringe on the rights of national minorities. Mr. Rstakyan singled out the “Education and Science Law” that is now in practice and gradually be enforced. According to Article Five of this law, all classroom instruction in schools in Georgia must be in Georgian.
Furthermore, the Georgian education ministry has assumed the task of securing Armenian textbooks for Armenian schools in Georgia. Vachagan Rstakyan, an Armenian language instructor with over thirty years experience at the Akhalkalak “Hovhannes Tumanyan” school, believes that the Georgian education ministry wants to “make ends meet” by using this textbooks in Armenian language schools in Georgia without creating a prior academic or methodological base.
“If we were to show these texts of theirs to any professional standards committee, we’d see that the books do not meet any accepted norms, neither academically or in terms of methodology. This is a serious blow to academic progress,” the language instructor states.
The second legislative obligation, according to Davit Rstakyan, stems from Article 9 of the local self-government charter where it states that all sessions must be conducted in Georgian, even though 90% of the deputies to the regional council cannot speak Georgian with any proficiency. Furthermore, the Georgian law regarding employment if the public sector states that in order for a citizen to be employed at any government agency he/she must be proficient in Georgian. The vast majority of Javakhk Armenians aren’t proficient in Georgian.
To be continued
“The primary problems in Javakhk are of a social nature and those forces or institutions that artificially seek to paint a different picture and to increase tensions are simply carrying out the wishes of outside third parties.” This was the comment made by Hayk Sanosyan, member of the directorate of the “Georgian-Armenian Unity” NGO and Armenian national assembly deputy, at a March 18th press conference. Mr. Sanosyan added that Javakhk Armenians do not presently face issues regarding the preservation of their Armenian identity and that there are no concerns along these lines in general. This statement by the deputy, a Javakhk native, caused a degree of concern to Javakhk Armenians in general and within their social-political organizations in particular. Their response came in the form of a joint statement.
Mels Torosyan, president of the “Akounk Union” and editor of the “Akounk” paper, responding to the statements of Hayk Sanosyan and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, noted that there is a flawed perception of the issue by Armenian intellectuals and within government circles since they haven’t examined the origins of the problem nor its root causes.
Mr. Mels Torosyan says that, “Certain individuals have made a variety of statements depending on their state of mind on the particular day, their business interests or their desire to hold on to their government job. They haven’t reflected on the possibility that their statement might have a boomerang effect and negatively impact on Javakhk Armenians and lead to their problems being overlooked.”
The “Akounk” editor adds that they are in the midst of an information war all over the world and that they cannot resist the blows that are hailing down on them today. “Since the state mechanism is working against us, there are forces that seek to pit us against one another. For example, one such force was the Armenian parliamentarian Hayk Sanosyan. Javakhk Armenians didn’t allow for the completion of the jail’s construction or the destruction of a scenic piece of nature for the health resort. In response, he makes statements such as the Armenian community in Javakhk doesn’t face a national problem. Someone should ask him just what he means by a “national” problem,” Mr. Torosyan asks.
It is the opinion of Mr. Torosyan that the Georgian state apparatus has placed Hayk Sanosyan into such a corner that he is now longer capable of stating what he thinks but rather must repeat what they say. “Mr. Sanosyan is so deeply involved in various Georgian state circles due to his business dealings that he is vulnerable to the pressures they are exacting on him. His brother is now managing the gasification project in Javakhk and a sewing factory bearing their name operates in the city of Ninotzminda.”
Mr. Hayk Sanosyan responds to the accusations being directed at him in the following manner, “I’d answer those statements thusly. There are two women in a village in Javakhk who are quarreling. One is immoral and the other normal. The immoral one takes the initiative and attacks the other, calling her immoral. The villagers gather and tell her that they know she is the real immoral one and ask her why she is slandering the other innocent woman in such a fashion. It’s the same principle at work. Those individuals that really have connections to these institutions are accusing us of the same thing. Not only do we not have personal business interests in Javakhk but for the past five years we’ve been making investments with funds from our pockets. And we haven’t seen any profit in return till now. The only profit we have seen is that people are now working in Javakhk. We have started various businesses there with the aim of securing a livelihood for the people, so that Javakhk Armenians stay put and don’t emigrate.”
By naming the factories owned by his family in Javakhk, the flour mill, the cheese plant in Akhalkalak and other smaller businesses, Hayk Sanosyan argued that if the government was paying for gasification in all the regions of Georgia, it was “family money” that was carrying out gasification in Javakhk.
“It will be fifteen years until we recoup what we’ve spent. We have other business elsewhere, like in Russia. We use those profits to invest in Javakhk. It’s still not clear when we’ll see a profit out of the Javakhk businesses,” Mr. Sanosyan commented.
National Assembly Deputy Sanosyan doesn’t see any national problems in Javakhk. “Maybe I’m not inclined to see such problems. Perhaps they do exist. I always simply state that we shouldn’t constantly whine about such problems but rather take steps to expand activities in Javakhk and not always complain about this or that government policy,” he states, adding that, “Georgia is, to a certain degree, dependent on Turkey and Azerbaijan due to economic interests. Naturally, the Georgian authorities can sometimes exhibit certain anti-Armenian overtones to gain favor, but I wouldn’t say that they are intended as anti-Armenian policy.”
Where are the leaders in this community of 300,000?
Nevertheless, Mels Torosyan states that the situation in Javakhk is getting worse by the day because the Georgian authorities are operating according to a system previously set-up centuries ago and not under the influence of the present moment.
“They have a problem with those national minorities that still reside in concentrated clusters and they execute a policy towards them that is beneficial to the central state authorities and the Georgian nationality that makes up the government. Those national minorities must either dissolve, or as they put it, integrate. But their comprehension of integration is to change ones national make-up, to give in, to forget our national interests and values. Otherwise, they say , if you don’t want to go this route you must leave this land because I must resettle the region with other nationalities that can better protect my borders against outsiders,” Mels Torosyan states.
Historical Sciences Candidate Khachatur Stepanyan also claims that, in general, a political issue confronts the Armenian community in Georgia. “Armenians make up ten per-cent of the population and we have many noted professionals but there is not one Armenian in Tbilisi who is employed in the mayor’s office or who has a normal government job. There are many professionals out there but none ever get appointed to government posts. They get passed over because they’re Armenian. They persecuted, plundered and killed Armenians in the Ottoman Empire because they were Armenians and the same situation exists in Georgia. There may be some situational differences, but the essence of the problem is the same,” Mr. Stepanyan notes.
Mr. Stepanyan states, “There is no socio-economic explanation for the fact that in the Akhalkalak region, where Georgians comprise only 5%, they can have 30% representation in the regional council.”
In the estimation of Davit Rstakyan, President of the “Virk Party” and a deputy in the Akhalkalak regional council, the pressure exerted by the Georgian authorities on Armenians is being carried out quite deftly via the legislative process. Bills are being passed in the Georgian parliament that directly infringe on the rights of national minorities. Mr. Rstakyan singled out the “Education and Science Law” that is now in practice and gradually be enforced. According to Article Five of this law, all classroom instruction in schools in Georgia must be in Georgian.
Furthermore, the Georgian education ministry has assumed the task of securing Armenian textbooks for Armenian schools in Georgia. Vachagan Rstakyan, an Armenian language instructor with over thirty years experience at the Akhalkalak “Hovhannes Tumanyan” school, believes that the Georgian education ministry wants to “make ends meet” by using this textbooks in Armenian language schools in Georgia without creating a prior academic or methodological base.
“If we were to show these texts of theirs to any professional standards committee, we’d see that the books do not meet any accepted norms, neither academically or in terms of methodology. This is a serious blow to academic progress,” the language instructor states.
The second legislative obligation, according to Davit Rstakyan, stems from Article 9 of the local self-government charter where it states that all sessions must be conducted in Georgian, even though 90% of the deputies to the regional council cannot speak Georgian with any proficiency. Furthermore, the Georgian law regarding employment if the public sector states that in order for a citizen to be employed at any government agency he/she must be proficient in Georgian. The vast majority of Javakhk Armenians aren’t proficient in Georgian.
To be continued
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