Reports by several Georgian media outlets have sparked a strong reaction in Armenia. The reports claimed that “Armenia is returning the border village of Jiliza to Georgia”. Georgian outlets cited Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, but he did not make such a statement.
Pashinyan said only that border demarcation with Georgia remains on Armenia’s agenda. His press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan rejected the reports.
Some Armenian opposition media also republished the claims.
On social media in Armenia, users expressed outrage. Some accused “friendly Georgia” of joining a “hybrid war against Armenia”. Others called for those spreading disinformation in local media to be punished.
JAMnews presents verified information from Georgia and Armenia. Georgian political analyst Giorgi Tumasyan comments on the situation, along with Armenian social media users.
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Information from Tbilisi
On 27–28 April, several Georgian media outlets — including news pages of Mtavari, CNews Exclusive, Dedoplistskaro TV, Itv.ge and Flashnews — as well as their Facebook pages and Georgian social media users, spread claims that Armenia would “return” the border village of Jiliza to Georgia after completing border demarcation.
Some reports tied this claim to remarks by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. He said completing border delimitation with Georgia remains on the agenda and that agreements have already been reached with Georgian partners. However, Pashinyan did not mention Jiliza or any transfer of territory.
Some posts went further and claimed Armenia and Georgia had already agreed to complete border demarcation. These claims spread widely on Facebook. Individual users and pages shared text and an information card prepared by Mtavari.
How the information appeared and was corrected
The story first appeared on Business Press News. The outlet later issued a correction and apologised to readers for the inaccuracy.
In the correction, BPN said it had originally published the story under the headline: “Armenia returns a border village to Georgia – Pashinyan: ‘We agreed to complete border demarcation with Georgia’.”
The outlet said it based the report on information from the Armenian newspaper Zhoghovurd, published in March 2024. At the time, the paper wrote that Armenia was allegedly planning to “return” Jiliza to Georgia as part of demarcation.
In April 2024, Zhoghovurd asked Pashinyan’s press secretary which sections of the border would be demarcated with Georgia and whether Jiliza, which rumours said could be transferred, was included.
In response, the press secretary said the discussion concerned only the general issue of demarcation in the context of a strategic cooperation declaration with Georgia. She said there was no additional information beyond the prime minister’s statement at the time.
On 28 April, Nazeli Baghdasaryan again said any claims about plans or agreements to transfer any part of Armenia’s sovereign territory to another country were not true.
After that, Business Press News acknowledged the error and apologised to readers.
In comments to JAMnews, Georgian political analyst Giorgi Tumasyan, who is familiar with both Georgian and Armenian politics, said the false claim was most likely the result of journalistic negligence.
The issue of a possible transfer of Jiliza to Georgia had also appeared in Armenian media in 2024. At the time, Armlur.am wrote about such a possibility but noted the information was based on unverified “rumours”. Despite this, as Myth Detector reports, other Armenian websites later republished the story, including news.am, asekose.am, mamul.am and 168.am.
So far, Georgian officials have not commented on the issue. Myth Detector has requested a comment from the Georgian Foreign Ministry.
Information from Yerevan
What triggered the disinformation
The false claims appear to have stemmed from remarks by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at an event marking Border Guard Day of Armenia’s National Security Service. He spoke about the importance of a 12-kilometre section of the border with Azerbaijan that Armenia and Azerbaijan have already delimited and demarcated, where Armenian border guards now serve.
He described the situation as exceptional. On that stretch, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces serve without helmets or body armour, and keep their ammunition in backpacks rather than in their weapons.
He then added that border demarcation with Georgia also remains on the agenda.
“And we have already reached agreements with our Georgian partners on this issue,” he said.
Pashinyan did not say anything else on the matter and did not mention any transfer of territory.
Response from the prime minister’s press secretary
Prime Minister’s press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan wrote on Facebook:
“Some media outlets have circulated ‘information’ claiming that, as part of the delimitation process, an agreement has been reached under which Armenia will transfer the village of Jiliza, part of the enlarged Alaverdi community, to Georgia.
Any claim, suggestion or ‘information’ about an intention, plan or agreement to transfer any part of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia to another country cannot be true.
Therefore, as before, we have denied, deny and will continue to deny any such reports, present or future, as they are fabricated.”
Comment from the head of Jiliza administration
Journalists from Armenian outlet 5 Channel Armenia spoke with the head of Jiliza’s administration, Mher Vardanyan. He said he had seen rumours about the alleged transfer of the village on social media.
He said there were no grounds for transferring Jiliza to neighbouring Georgia.
“Our Jiliza has never been part of Georgia, so we do not fear any possible transfer,” he said.
Commenting on the prime minister’s remarks about demarcation, Vardanyan added that “such groups have not yet worked” in the area of Jiliza.
Reactions from Armenian social media users
Rumours about the possible transfer of Jiliza to Georgia angered Armenian social media users. Many expressed even greater outrage that Armenian media had republished disinformation originating in Georgia. In comments under the press secretary’s post, users called for those spreading false information to be punished.
Some of the comments included:
“A denial is not enough. When will you understand this? Punishment would be more effective. The most appropriate penalty would be a fine of 2–3 million drams [$5,000–$8,000] or more. Then they would come to their senses.”
“Refer them to law enforcement for spreading disinformation aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.”
“It is no longer funny that the authorities constantly deny disinformation spread daily by Kremlin-linked media and agents, putting pressure on our state. That is what state security bodies are for. There is a law — you can hold them accountable. Are you afraid of the Russians? Do you not understand what you are doing? Do you not grasp how serious this is? Are you mocking us or yourselves? Please tell us which it is so we can understand. Everything is becoming questionable.”
“You have driven us mad with these denials. Finally punish those spreading disinformation. People’s nerves are at breaking point.”
“We have already developed immunity to this kind of lie. In any case, you are right to respond quickly and inform the public.”
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