Georgia-based Armenian NGOs address open letter to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s

tert.am
22:02 – 05.10.12

The Armenian Assembly of Tbilisi and the Multinational Georgia NGOs
addressed an open letter to Bidzina Ivanishvili, Chairman of the
Georgian Dream party.

In their letter they demand explanations for the words Ivanishvili
said in an interview with Evgenya Albatz, Editor in Chief of the The
New Times weekly.

`The question arose because this is neither a video nor an audio
record,’ Arnold Stepanyan, Chairman of the Multinational Georgia NGO,
told Tert.am.

The question is as follows: `Since we are all Georgian citizens, we
expect him to give explanations through mass media and then meet with
the Armenian community.’

The authors express their deep concern over the words, which run
counter to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s vote catchers involving equality of
citizens.

In their letter, the authors call on Bidzina Ivanishvili to consider
the Armenian community’s proposals and positions.

In an interview with Evgenya Albatz, Editor in Chief of the The New
Times weekly, the Georgian opposition leader particularly said: `We,
Georgians, are so strange. We are attached to our soil. Look,
Armenians are living with us here. I am surprised, their homeland is
near here, but they are living with us here. I cannot comprehend that.
I lived in France, and in the United States for a year, but I dreamt
of my village and soil…’

In the past, as well as during the election campaign, the Georgian
Dream bloc leader did not make any anti-Armenian statements, Stepanyan
said.

`Moreover, he used to speak of Armenians in a positive vein,’ he
added. On the other hand, the fellow-members sometimes spoke in a
negative vein about national minorities in Georgia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress