"A young person has no future in Javakh," said Valery Stelmashov, head of the department for culture, education, sport, memorial preservation and youth affairs in the Akhalkalak municipality.  The primary thought among the youth of Javakhk is to leave as soon as possible.  This thought is justified by all of them in almost the same way - there are no jobs, educational institutions, leisure spots, gyms, cultural centers, clubs - in a word, there is nothing of interest.  What they used to have has either closed down or is no longer operational.

Valery Stelmashov considered the primary issue to be the lack of jobs, which has become the main reason for emigration.  The employment issue has become an even tougher problem of late because knowledge of Georgian is now required.  When a new job is announced, most of the residents of Javakhk cannot apply and it usually goes to a Georgian or someone who speaks the language, while the youth of Javakhk remain in secondary and tertiary positions or in technical posts.  Many businesses have been closing in Javakhk lately.

"The Georgian administration is talking a lot about integration, but they have no intention to integrate us, their objective is to Georgianize this region.  Lack of knowledge of Georgian is just a means to that end.  If we have manage to resist all this so far it has all been thanks to our lack of knowledge of Georgian.  Had we known Georgian a few decades ago, we would already have been assimilated and this area would no longer be Armenian," complained Mels Torosyan, president of the Akunk union and co-president of Virk, an unregistered political party.

Vahagn Chakhalyan, president of the Javakhk Youth Sports and Cultural Union (JYSCU), also felt that the course of events in Javakhk had a political subtext, "There is nowhere else to work except for enforcement organs, particularly the police.  But the places available there are limited.   There have not been any new jobs.  1.5 million dollars is being spent in constructing a customs post on the Georgian-Armenian border, but no Armenians are involved in the work.  The state does not care about helping our youth gain employment."

Stelmashov suggested a balanced approach to the issue of learning Georgian, because he felt that one should know the official language.  "I also hold a public position, but don't speak Georgian and I feel that it is wrong.  But the state must also understand that we are not to blame for this and this is not a whim on our part.  This is a situation left over from the Soviet Union, when knowing Russian was mandatory.  Our generation is from that period.  We need to solve those problems, but that cannot be done over a short period of time."

There are no state institutions of higher education in Javakhk.  A branch of the Tbilisi State University has closed down.  There are a few private institutions, but the youth there said that they did not provide quality education.  The residents of Javakhk said that the authorities had not created the conditions there for a good education - starting from kindergarten all the way up to university.

That is the reason why a majority of the youth leave for other countries to study, mainly Armenia and, in fewer cases, Russia.  There is a simplified procedure for their admission to state universities in Armenia.  This is in contrast to Georgia, where knowledge of Georgian is mandatory for admission into state universities.  Of the 56 applicants for admission from the Akhalkalak region only eight succeeded, of whom only 2 had studied in the region's Armenian schools.  The remaining six were graduates of the region's Georgian schools.

"Today, the Armenian authorities are helping the Georgian government and facilitating the emigration from Javakhk.  Because of the simplified procedure for admission, many of our youth do not return after completing their education in Armenia.  This is supported by the fact that we have a 300,000-strong community in Yerevan," assured JYSCU president Chakhalyan and proposed developing a new mechanism, which would secure the return to Javakhk of young graduates from universities in Armenia.  They would be required to work in Javakhk for at least 3 years, so that the region would not have the lack of teachers or other specialists.

"They all go and don't return.  Why is there a similar mechanism in place for Armenians from Artsakh but not for us?  If the candidate does not want to return then he should gain admission in competition with local applicants, not through a system of privileges.  If he is being given a privilege, there should also be a condition that comes with it.  That is how it is in the whole world," said Chakhalyan.

"Very few school graduates get into Georgian universities, because of the language problem.  If you are Armenian, you would naturally drift towards other Armenians - why would you go to the Georgians, if you don't even speak their language?" explained Miasnik Khrimyan, a student from Javakhk at the Khachatur Abovyan State Pedagogical University in Yerevan.  He noted that even if he had spoken Georgian, he would have come to Armenia to study anyway, because he did not feel different here, while he would not fit in with the Georgians.

The third factor which encouraged emigration was a lack of leisure spots and cultural centers.  Stelmashov said that while during Soviet times the youth had a wider range of options for their free time, like song and dance groups, they were now limited to totally different things - casinos, cafes, football bookie joints and internet clubs.  There is a regional cultural center in Akhalkalak, which has a section of folk instruments, a song and dance ensemble as well as different creative groups.  A negligible percentage of the youth frequented those group sessions.  There are also music, art and sport schools, a gym with different sections, but only the youth living in the city can access these.

Stelmashov bitterly noted that the young people living in the villages were completely cut off from a cultural life compared to those in the cities, and that this was an issue of the state system.  "The problems faced by young people in villages is very serious.   There are no cultural or youth clubs, groups or centers in any village.  I cannot understand why it should be this way.  I am a state official, I do what they tell me to do.  But I have my own personal opinion - villagers should have cultural centers and leisure opportunities that are on an equal footing with the residents of cities.  Everything is closed," complained the head of the youth affairs department.

The Akhalkalak regional cultural center and regional library are currently both operational.  There are villages that have a few cultural groups. For example, there is a theatrical group in the village of Lomaturtskh, but it is doomed to closure if the village cultural center closes.  There are no disco clubs, which are in great demand for the leisure of young residents.

Miasnik also confirmed that there was nothing of interest left for the young people in villages.  "For example, there should be sport centers in the villages, various groups, internet connectivity, normal libraries, so that young people don't feel like they're cut off from the rest of the world.  Otherwise, the village boys gather in the village center, talk nonsense and dream of going to Russia," said Miasnik.

"There would be concerts frequently during Soviet times, we would wait for those concerts very enthusiastically.  We would wait for a particular day when a new movie was to be released, we would go to the theater and watch plays.  We had a theatrical group in our village.  It was very interesting.  Now plays and concerts are very rare, movies are never shown.  The youth only watch television," said 50-year-old Stepan.

"The cinema is, as they say, dead but not buried.  It remains only in big cities; they don't go to the movies here because the chairs are all broken, the hall is cold - nobody would want to watch a movie in those conditions," complained Stelmashov.  "When we ask those of our youth who are abroad why they don't come back to Javakhk at least during the vacations they ask, 'What would we do there?  There is nothing interesting to do,'" said the JYSCU president.

The Akhalkalak city park is where the youth gather today.  There are sometimes open-air parties organized here which bring together the boys and the girls, but they are then separated once again for a long time.  "When will something be organized next so that we can leave home?" frowned Gayane, during a small concert which was recently organized.  The boys that gather here every day talk, killing time and - in their own words - dreaming of the day that they will leave Javakhk.

Akhalkalak