Tbilisi: Troops Dispatched to Tsalka

Troops Dispatched to Tsalka

Civil Georgia, Georgia
May 12 2004

100-strong unit of Interior Troops were dispatched on May 11 to
Georgia’s southern multi-ethnic district of Tsalka.

The move follows clashes between the local ethnic Armenians and
Georgians on May 9. Several people were reportedly injured.

Ethnic Armenians comprise 57% of population of Tsalka district in
Kvemo Kartli region with population around 20,000, according to the
Georgian department of statistics.

4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic Georgians, up to 2,000 Azerbaijanis
also live in the Tsalka district.

Local officials describe clashes between ethnic Georgians and
Armenians, which have been reported sporadically for several years,
as “a communal violence.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS