ETHNIC OVERTONES IN SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI CLASH
The Messenger
Thursday, March 16, 2006, #050 (1070)
The aftershocks of an apparent restaurant fight that left one man
dead in the multi-ethnic Tsalka district illustrate how sensitive
local nerves are to speculations of ethnic-based violence and how
sensitive Georgian politics is to reports of tension.
On March 9 in Tsakla an argument took place in a restaurant between
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Svanetians, Georgians who had been moved
to the region in the early 1990s. It was widely reported in Georgian
press that a fight fueled by alcohol broke out between the two groups
after a disagreement on music playing in the venue.
During the conflict a 23-year-old ethnic Armenian, Gevork Gevorkian,
was killed. Police arrested 5 suspects shortly afterwards and a
representative of the Public Defender’s representative went to Tsalka
at once. As the newspaper 24 Saati quotes Public Defender Sozar Subari
as saying, “We concluded that this was not an ethnic confrontation –
it was just an ordinary struggle.”
But the aftermath of the fight and death is far from ordinary. A group
of Armenian residents, who comprise 57 percent of the population in
Tsalka, called for a lynching of the suspects and raided the local
administrative building. It has been reported that police at the time
stood down in order not to incite a larger conflict.
The Tsalka aftershocks spread to Akhalkalaki, the central city in the
region, where on March 12 an Armenian NGO held a protest action about
the incident. According to 24-Saati, the action grew to anti-Georgian
statements. Eventually the crowd stormed in the local branch of the
Tbilisi State University and the local court building. Finally the
angry mob targeted the bishop’s office of the region after hearing
Georgians were keeping weapons there. The newspaper Akhali Taoba
reports law enforcers and the bishop’s administration agreed to allow
some of the protesters inside; once they confirmed no weapons were
there, the crowd dispersed.
What transpired over these four days is prone to exaggeration and
sensationalism. But the organizer of the initial protest has already
disavowed the mob’s behavior. “There were agents in the action that
called on the population to destroy the university. We did not plan
this,” a member of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Public Organization Council
Khachatur Stepanian told the newspaper 24-Saati. Still the council
plans to hold new, peaceful protests in the near future. “First of all
we demand that government affairs be conducted in Armenian language
and that Armenians stay safe as well,” the newspaper Khvalindeli Dghe
quotes council members as saying.
At the same time, the events in Akhalkalaki have irritated Georgian
society. “Samtskhe-Javakheti separatists want war with Georgians”
on Georgian newspaper, Akhali Taoba, wrote. Many representatives of
the Armenian Diaspora in Tbilisi have countered that the behavior of
the rioters must not me connected with the entire Armenian population
in Javakheti. “There doesn’t exist in Javakheti any anti-Georgian
position. It is impossible for Armenians to have an anti-Georgian
position,” says MP Van Baiburt in Akhali Taoba.
Georgian authorities have attributed the Akhalkalaki incident
to outside forces. The presidential representative in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region Goga Khachidze says the conflict is
likely tied to Russian special services and resent opposition
demonstrations. He also calls on Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze
to pay more attention to the situation.
Burjanadze on her part also blames ‘outside forces.’ As quoted in the
newspaper Akhali Taoba she said, “The criminals must be punished. It
is obvious that certain forces are apt to create a confrontation
between Georgians and non-Georgians. I am certain that Georgians
and non-Georgians will maximally try not to pay attention to these
provocations.”
Critics accuse the government however of being lackadaisical to the
ethnic dynamics in motion in the Javakheti region. “The president will
have to explain why he does not pay attention to the region, why he
did not work out a Samtskhe-javakheti development plan, why he did
not suggest for Armenians working in Russian markets any alternative
[work] besides potato selling,” wrote the newspaper Akhali Taoba.
It is tragic that the death of Gevork Gevorkian happened in the first
place and it should be also disconcerting for the Georgian government
that local residents have such little faith in the government’s due
process. An effective interactive dialogue with national minorities
in the region still needs development in the region; at the same time,
economic development of the region is also urgently needed.

ARMENIAN ‘MERCENARY’ SAGA STIRS UP KENYAN POLITICS
By C. Bryson Hull
Reuters AlertNet, UK
March 16 2006
NAIROBI, March 16 (Reuters) – It was a bizarre twist in Kenya’s
increasingly chaotic political climate: claims that foreign mercenaries
led a police raid on a major media house.
But what began as a minor mystery from one of the most controversial
moments in President Mwai Kibaki’s three-year-old rule has quickly
escalated to convulse local politics and bemuse Kenyans with its
theatrical elements.
The story began with the overnight March 2 raid on the Standard
Group, and reached a crescendo this week with an opposition leader
who first made the mercenary charges trading weighty accusations with
the Armenians he named.
“The whole thing looks orchestrated on both sides. It doesn’t
taste real,” security consultant and former Criminal Investigation
Department officer Ambrose Murunga, told Reuters. “No one has ever
really connected those Armenians to the raid.”
Already reeling from graft scandals and a fall in popularity, Kibaki’s
administration provoked international condemnation when hooded police
with assault rifles struck the KTN television station and its sister
newspaper the Standard.
Security cameras captured images of masked, light-skinned men.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga said that supported his accusation the
government had hired eastern European mercenaries to lead the raid
and kill opposition politicians.
“These two men were in on the raid and the police have given them
Kenya police force certificates,” Odinga said.
Odinga, who wants to run for president in 2007, raised the stakes by
recording two statements with police and producing copies of passports
of two Armenians he said were the guns-for-hire.
Police denied any foreign involvement and are now investigating
his charges.
VIP TREATMENT?
The men Odinga named then stepped out of the shadows to hold a press
conference on Monday to deny the accusations and level their own
against him over business dealings.
The venue of their appearance — the government VIP lounge of Nairobi’s
international airport — raised some eyebrows.
Appearing in dark suits and heavy gold jewelry, the men said they
were Armenian brothers from Dubai who had come to invest in Kenya,
to complement businesses including trading diamonds and gold from
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
One of the men, who identified himself as Artur Margariyan, said they
had to counter Odinga’s allegations to save their reputations.
“The next thing he was going to say was that we had tails and horns,”
Margariyan told Reuters in an interview.
He said it was the press who had led him into the VIP lounge.
But the setting of the conference has fuelled speculation the two
men have powerful government friends, as did their accusations that
Odinga had approached them for money.
Margariyan said the government was not protecting him and until they
assured his safety, he would not record a police statement.
He also alleged Odinga and fellow opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka
approached him and his brother for 3 billion Kenya shillings ($41.44
million) to finance a vote of no confidence against Kibaki.
Margariyan said they refused to loan money for political purposes,
but gave Odinga $1.5 million in cash – in a plastic bag in a posh
Nairobi hotel suite in December – to sort out a domestic problem.
Odinga called the charges against him and Musyoka “hogwash.” Musyoka,
who recorded a statement with police, has said he met the two briefly
last year but never discussed money.
“These people were being kept hidden by the government and these are
very dangerous criminals,” Odinga told Reuters.
He declined to reveal where he had got their passport copies, saying he
needed to protect a source “who was not from the government as such.”
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya was not protecting the
two Armenians. Police are probing all players in the puzzling drama,
he said.
“We are investigating these guys. We think there are a lot of politics
involved in this,” Mutua said.

AZERI POLICE PREVENTS PROTEST DURING ARRIVAL OF ARMENIANS IN BAKU
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Police prevented a protest from occurring today at 14:00 in front of
the “Park Inn” Hotel during the arrival of the Armenian delegation
participating in an OSCE conference.
Active members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) attempted
to protest, Akif Nagi, KLO’s leader, told TURAN. Several members
of the KLO managed to enter the hotel, but police then caught them,
and did not allow the others to enter the hotel. The detained were
taken to the 39th police department and were it was said they would
be released only after the Armenian delegation leaves Baku.
The conference is about the increase of transport safety in the OSCE
zone. The Armenian delegation consisting of three people is led by
the Deputy Transport Minister of Armenia, Vagan Badalian.

GLO MEMBERS PROTESTING ARMENIANS’ VISIT TO BAKU ARRESTED
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Garabagh Liberation Organization (GLO) made several attempts to prevent
participation of Armenian representatives in the preparatory conference
to the OSCE Economic Forum, but police prevented the attempts.
GLO press service told APA that the organization members- Firudin
Mammadov, Khayyam Nagiyev, Afgan Suleymanov, Yashar Aliyev and some
others were taken to the police station # 39. GLO’s statement on this
happening reads that OSCE tries to justify the aggression of Armenia,
to reconcile the conflicting sides by force and to make Azerbaijan
agree with the aggression. Condemning the OSCE’s stance, GLO states
that this step disrespects the international legal norms. GLO also
deplore Azerbaijani government’s authorizing Armenians to visit Baku.
The arrested members of GLO have not been released yet. Police station
#39 told APA that after the arrested will be released after receiving
statements.
Armenian Foreign Ministry OSCE department chief- Varuzhan Nersesyan,
assistant head of Armenian delegation to the OSCE-Nahbarsum Minasyan
and Armenian Transport and Communication Ministry international
cooperation deputy chairman-Vahag Badalyan are taking part in the
preparatory conference for the OSCE Economic Forum.

ARMENIA ISOLATED FROM REGIONAL PROJECTS
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
Today Armenia is isolated from regional projects and kept outside of
important communications. “We have done that because Armenia will not
give up its aggressive policy,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said
in his speech at the Second World Congress of Azerbaijanis in Baku.
He added that Azerbaijan will not make concessions, but will struggle
for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict that maintains the republic’s
territorial integrity. “Any cooperation is out of question until
Armenia liberates our territories,” said Aliyev.
Owing to rapid economic growth, Azerbaijan is developing, while the
economy of Armenia, which is in isolation, makes no headway.
The interest and importance of Azerbaijan’s partners and neighbors is
constantly growing. All this makes us believe that the country will
resolve all its problems, including the Karabakh conflict, said Aliyev.
He urged all Azerbaijanis living in various countries around the
world to actively promote the prosperity of their motherland and the
resolution of its problems.

GROUPS IN AKHALKALAKI WANT ARMENIAN AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 16 2006
Akhalkalaki-based Virk and Javakhk organizations have requested the
Georgian authorities to announce Armenian as the second official
language in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, which is predominantly
populated by ethnic Armenians.
At a news conference on March 16 representatives of these
organizations said that they have already sent an appeal to those
four parliamentarians, who represent Armenian community, and asked
them to push the issue in the Georgian legislative body.
A group of non-governmental organizations based in Samtskhe-Javakheti
region requested last September the Georgian leadership to consider
possibility of granting the region autonomy with “broad authority
for self-governance, including the right to hold elections for all
bodies of governance.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PETER SEMNEBY: “I ASSUMED MY NEW OFFICE AS I BELIEVED SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2006
“I will regularly get in touch with the OSCE Mink Group co-chairs to
be sure that initiatives for the settlement of the Nagorno Garabagh
conflict are coordinated in a right way,” European Union special
representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby reported. (APA).
He thinks there is much likelihood that the conflict will be settled
in 2006.
“Taking into account the high hopes that failed in the latest meeting
between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents, it is difficult to say
how realistic these hopes were,” Mr. Semneby said.
“I have to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia and exchange of views with
the co-chairs to get full idea of the situation. However, I must
admit that if I had not believed the settlement of the conflict I
would not have agreed to my appointment to this position,” the EU
representative added.
According to him, the basic priority of his activities will be
promoting settlement of frozen conflicts in the region. He said that
there are expectations that the EU will play an important role after
attaining agreements over settlement of conflicts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARADOXICAL ARMENO-TURKISH RELATIONS
Londra Toplum Postasý, UK
British Turkish website
March 16 2006
Ekleniþ Tarihi: 16 Mart 2006
Yazar: Alkan Chaglar
Yazarýn tum yazýlarýný goruntule
Armenians have lived in Cyprus for centuries, but the present
community on the island is mainly the result of immigration during
and after the Armenian deportations of 1915-23 in Turkey. Currently,
some 6000 Armenians live in Cyprus, mainly in Nicosia, Larnaca and
Limassol. Many of the Armenians who fled to Cyprus were Turkahayer,
or Turkish Armenians, despite the fact that some Gibrahayer (Cypriot
Armenians) had lived in Cyprus for centuries.
Fleeing from war, they huddled together in open boats, unfurled their
sails and left Silifke to Cyprus. Armenians arrived bedraggled,
dispirited and sick from war, but with heavy hearts and with an
entrepreneurial spirit they made the island their new home. Cyprus
for them was a sanctuary from the misery of war and domestic strife
in Anatolia.
However, hardened by many fatigues and inured to rough living,
they were unable to forget their homes and the Turkish neighbours
and friends they left behind, so they clung onto their traditions
and memories of Anatolia life in their new home. Poor and destitute,
many sought cheap rented lodgings in the Turkish quarter of Nicosia.
Originally, Armenian refugees from Anatolia spoke Turkish, with a
small number able to converse in Armenian, which they often mixed with
Turkish. It was also common to meet Armenians who could not speak their
own language. Some Armenians in an effort to retain some kind of an
Armenian identity even attempted to write Turkish using the Armenian
script rather than go to the trouble of learning the old language.
This had already happened to the Armenian community of the Crimea
who lost their language adopted Kipchak Turkic which they wrote
using the Armenian script. Today the children of Cypriot Armenians
are multi-lingual.
The most paradoxical relations that the Armenians had in Cyprus
were with the Turkish Cypriots, while at school and church they
were routinely indoctrinated about past struggles with Turks,
Cypriot Armenians and Cypriot Turks lived side by side in the same
neighbourhood of Nicosia. The significance of this is that they left
one Turk to settle with another.
Although the Armeno-Turkish conflict in Anatolia left many bitter
memories, Cypriot Armenians enjoyed closer ties with the Turkish
Cypriots than with other Cypriots. Whatever transpired in Anatolia
had no bearing on their relations with Turkish Cypriots. Both were
Turkish speaking; Armenians had arrived in Cyprus from Southern and
Eastern Anatolia and their culture and traditions were Turkish. From
their names one can clearly see the centuries long experience of
living with Turks, Bichakjian (Bicakcioglu), Ouzunian (Uzunoglu),
and even Shishmanian (Sismanoglu) -ian denotes ‘son of’ in Armenian.
Often these names have a geographical origin, so a family from Antep
would be Antepian, or it would suggest noble ancestry or a profession
or physical trait, such as Karagozian (blackeyed) or Boyatzian
(painter). They may also have Muslim and Turkic names, Azizian,
Turfanian and even Osmanian.
In Cyprus, they not only established their businesses among the Turkish
Cypriots but built friendships with them and exchanged visits to each
other’s homes. Even though the Greeks formed the majority of Cyprus’
population, the Armenians had more contact with Turkish Cypriots, as
few of them spoke Greek. They already knew Turkish as a mother tongue
and most of them continued to converse in Turkish on the island,
in order to communicate among themselves and with their Turkish
Cypriot neighbours. Often it was necessary to tell certain stories,
anecdotes or jokes within the family in Turkish, as they sounded
better in that language.
Like Turkish Cypriots, Armenians have a similar passion for Bastirma (a
traditional dried spicy sausage) and Soujouk, which the newly arrived
Armenians would sell. Unaware of prejudice they made good business
from transporting their Anatolian delights to Cypriot kitchens. While
the elders worked, their children would happily play games in the
streets, and by evening they would sleep in each other’s arms. Even
the odd Armenian -Turkish Cypriot love story was not uncommon.
While in other parts of the region domestic strife and bickering
soured coexistence, in Cyprus there was still mutual tolerance,
so that Armenians and later Jews from World War Two saw it as a
sanctuary of peace.
Many Turkish Cypriots like my grandparents have fond memories of
coexistence with Armenians, but also with Greeks and Maronites. At
their annual village Panayia, in Ayios Theodoros, similar to the Feria,
a village festival in Southern France, many of the confectioners who
made the tastiest sweet and sticky treats, and many of the regular
tradesmen and shopkeepers in the old city with whom the Turkish
Cypriots dealt with on a day to day basis were Armenians.
By the 1950s the Armenians founds themselves caught in the middle of
inter-communal conflict in Cyprus. Sue Pattie, recounts a story in
her book ” Faith in history”, when during the peak of Greco-Turkish
conflict, an Armenian risked their lives to help their Turkish
neighbours by sheltering them in their home after a rumour of an
imminent attack by militiamen. “One Turkish family that lived just
on the river’s edge came to us and asked if we would protect them
for the night. We were Armenians and we wouldn’t be attacked (by
the Greeks). They were very good neighbours. The mother had stayed
with me when my father was dying. The boys used to play together,
how could we say no?”
Many Armenians reacted to the troubles by emigrating abroad. Many
went to Australia and Britain.
Engaged in the invidious task of discussing Armeno-Turkish relations,
an issue seldom brought to people’s attention, it seems the two
peoples have enjoyed a special relationship on the island. This could
be used to Cyprus’ advantage if we are to seek a lasting peace. Even
if one considers the historical; dimensions of the Armenian Question,
it would incongruent with the truth to suggest that Armeno-Turkish
relations in Cyprus were poor, amid the political problems this would
be an easy assumption to make. But memories like this remind us that
they were often amicable and at times even brotherly.
ournalist&aid=926
–Boundary_(ID_Ng7Ruu65CjSV aFuiWcRmUQ)–

GEORGIAN RESIDENTS STAGE RALLY IN TSALKA
Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 16 2006
Tbilisi. March 16 (Prime News) – The residents of Georgian origin
of Tsalka District of Samtskhe-Javakheti Region staged a rally on
Thursday and called the Armenian population to peaceful coexistence.
Tens of thousand participants of the rally did not ask for any
privileges. They were supporting the local government and said that
the law enforcers must undertake more efficient measures for crime
prevention and bring the criminals to responsibility despite of
their origin, Prime-News was told by Mikheil Tskitishvili, head of
the local governmental unit.
They also said that record keeping must be in Georgian in the region
and called the local population of Armenian origin to peaceful
coexistence.
The local population of Armenian origin staged a protest rally in
Tsalka several days ago, after murder of the Armenian young man. They
were demeaning lynching of the suspected murderers.
The protest rallies were staged in Akhalkalaki for the same reason.
The participants of the rally raided the local governmental unit,
local branch of the TbilisiStateUniversity and court. They were
demanding Armenian record keeping too.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIAN MP SAYS OFFICIAL STATUS FOR ARMENIAN LANGUAGE “UNREALISTIC”
Kavkas-Press
16 Mar 06
Tbilisi, 16 March: [Pro-government ethnic Armenian] MP Van Baiburt
says that calls by some Armenians in Akhalkalaki for Armenian to be
given the status of an official language are unrealistic. Baiburt
told Kavkas-Press that he categorically rules out the possibility
that this demand could increase tension in Akhalkalaki and believes
this would only be in the interests of those organizations trying to
provoke protests with this demand.
Baiburt said that this should not be seen as the united opinion of the
Armenian diaspora in Georgia. “We feel that the Georgian authorities
are not imposing any restrictions. The Georgian government is taking
into account the situation of Akhalkalaki Armenians and because no-one
has taught them Georgian, the government has agreed to allow official
business to be conducted in Armenian in the area,” Baiburt said.
The MP called on his brethren to follow the example of ethnic
minorities in other countries and acquire an elementary knowledge of
the official language.
Baiburt said that it is not the Armenians’ fault that they do not
know Georgian. “It is the fault of time,” he said. “So that Armenians
can live comfortably, have jobs and teachers, the local council and
administration head should look for investors and grants to deal with
this problem,” Baiburt told Kavkas-Press.