IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 102: excerpts
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Subject: IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 102: excerpts
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IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 102: excerpts
WELCOME TO IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 102, October 22,
2001
RUSSIA DEFUSES ABKHAZ TENSIONS Moscow's pledge to withdraw its forces
from
Abkhazia by the end of the year lessens the likelihood of a new war in
the
region. Tina Tskhovrebashvili reports from Tbilisi
BAKU SLASHES BENEFITS Government social security cutbacks will cause
impoverished Azeris yet more hardship. Kamal Ali reports from Baku
ARMENIA FACES GEORGIAN DILEMMA Yerevan is attempting to stand up for
the
rights of its minority in Georgia, but is anxious not to fall out with
Tbilisi over the issue. David Alaverdyan reports from Yerevan
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..............
ARMENIA FACES GEORGIAN DILEMMA
Yerevan is attempting to stand up for the rights of its minority in
Georgia, but is anxious not to fall out with Tbilisi over the issue.
By David Alaverdyan in Yerevan
The fate of Georgia's Armenian community is high on the agenda of
talks scheduled this week between Georgian president Eduard
Shevardnadze and his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian.
Yerevan has highlighted what it calls discrimination and abuse of the
minority community in the run-up to the meeting on October 24, but
Georgia is reluctant to even acknowledge there is a problem.
Many Armenians believe that Tbilisi's attitude towards the minority
reflects a much wider anti-Armenian bias drawing Georgia into regional
political alliances that threaten to isolate their country.
Keen to avoid such isolation Armenia is conducting a double-edged
diplomatic game: attacking Georgia for ethnic abuses on the one hand
and urging it to remain its steadfast neighbour on the other.
So while prime minister Andranik Margaryan has spoken of Georgia
"abusing the basic human rights" of his ethnic kin, his foreign
minister, Irakli Menagarishvili, has been careful to stress that
relations between the two countries are the "cornerstone of the
region's stability".
The minority issue was thrust to the fore in September at the Council
of Europe. Addressing the body, Yerevan parliamentary deputy Armen
Rustamian raised concern over the plight of ethnic-Armenians in the
southwestern region of Djavakheti of Georgia.
The Armenian community there is said to be enduring extreme economic
hardship. Its representatives claim the Georgian authorities have done
nothing to alleviate their suffering and accuse them of
discrimination.
Rustamian called on European monitors to visit the region and acquaint
themselves with the problems there. Georgia's reaction was one of
outrage. Presidential aide Aleksei Gerasimov called the speech a pack
of lies. In fact, the text itself seems fairly innocuous but the
reaction it inspired is a measure of Georgian sensitivity over
minority issues.
This is hardly surprising when one considers that in the last ten
years Tbilisi has seen Abkhazia and South Ossetia secede, Adjaria all
but turn autonomous and two border regions effectively declared out of
bounds to Georgian security forces.
With Georgia apparently unwilling to address the problems in
Djavakheti, the situation there is bound to get worse, especially
since Tbilisi is being asked to repatriate Meskhetian Turks, deported
from the region by Stalin in 1944, in order to qualify for Council of
Europe membership.
The Armenians, who suffered genocide at the hands of the Turks during
and after World War One, are opposed to the return of the long exiled
community.
Oganes Oganesian, head of the Armenian parliamentary commission for
external relations, told the daily Rezonansi that he feared the worst.
"I think Georgia has enough problems and this will become another
one," he said.
Armenian observers suggest several reasons for Georgian intransigence
over the Djavakheti issue. Political analyst Armen Petrosian believes
it is in part rooted in Tbilisi's unwarranted belief that Armenia is a
Russian puppet, cajoled by Moscow into baiting Georgia.
Others lay the blame with what they see as Georgia's xenophobic
attitudes, of name-calling politicians with Armenian roots and
censoring programmes dealing with ethnic issues.
At the same time as pushing for a resolution to the minority question,
Armenia knows it needs to tread carefully and ensure that it doesn't
fall out with its neighbour.
Yerevan is concerned that Georgia is increasing its military
cooperation with Turkey. Though this is hardly surprising (since
Turkey is a NATO member and Georgia an aspiring member), Tbilisi's
simultaneous courting of Azerbaijan, both politically and
economically, has fueled Armenian fears of regional isolation.
"We have often stated that military cooperation between Georgia and
Turkey is a subject of serious concern for us," said Armenian foreign
minister Vardan Oskanyan.
Shevardnadze and Menagarishvili have sought to assuage Yerevan's
concerns. But their efforts have not been helped by bellicose noises
from the Georgian media and opposition parties, particularly in the
wake of Rustamian's Council of Europe speech.
Some of the press have speculated that Russia is trying to stoke up
conflict between Armenia and Georgia over Djavakheti.
Increased tensions between the two, the argument goes, would provide a
ready made excuse for Moscow to maintain its military base in the
region, which local Armenians regard as a guarantor of their
security. If the facility remains, Tbilisi would find it impossible
to join NATO, which suits Russia down to the ground.
An escalation in tensions, the theory continues, would also benefit
Kocharian as he could put the country on a war footing and postpone
presidential elections indefinitely.
The Armenian opposition have come out with similar conspiracy
theories, which the authorities have denounced as a deliberate
provocation aimed at wrecking Shevardnadze's visit.
A foreign ministry representative said the country's opposition, which
has been attempting to topple Kocharian's regime for months now, is
prepared to damage the relations between the two countries in order to
pursue its goal.
David Alaverdyan is editor-in-chief of the Mediamax news agency in
Yerevan.
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Editor-in-chief: Anthony Borden. Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan;
Assistant Editor: Philip O'Neil; Commissioning Editor: Marina Rennau
in Tbilisi; Associate Editors: Ara Tadevosian in Yerevan, Shahin
Rzayev in Baku and Zarina Kanukova in Nalchik. Editorial assistance:
Mirna Jancic and Heather Milner. To comment on this service, contact
IWPR's Programme Director: Alan Davis [email protected]
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is a London-based
independent non-profit organisation supporting regional media and
democratic change.
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The opinions expressed in IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service are those
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publication or of IWPR.
Copyright (c) IWPR 2001
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IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 102
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