Opposition paper says Azeri government trying to harm Georgia
Azadliq, Baku
14 Dec 04
An Azerbaijani opposition newspaper has accused the Azerbaijani
government of trying to harm Georgia and lower its international
standing. Comparing the leaderships of the two countries, Azadliq said
that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had never initiated a dialogue
with the Georgian authorities to resolve the problems of ethnic
Azerbaijanis. The following is the text of the report by Ali Rza in
Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 14 December headlined “The difference
between the two governments” and subheaded “Mikheil Saakashvili is
trying to resolve the problems of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Georgia,
while Ilham Aliyev is trying to create problems for Georgia” and “This
is also a difference in values”; subheadings have been inserted
editorially:
The tension between the Georgian authorities and ethnic Azerbaijanis
following the violence against the local population there when an
ethnic Azeri woman was killed in a clash over land came close to a
positive solution last week. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
received the Azerbaijani ambassador to Georgia, Ramiz Hasanov, and
replaced the governor of Kvemo Kartli Region, where the incident took
place, right after the meeting. He appointed the new governor to
resolve the problems the ethnic Azerbaijanis are facing.
“Old” problems
An elite group of ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Georgia cast some
light on the nature of the problems they face at a press conference in
Baku last week. Besides, they observed justice by saying that the
current problems are not new, but have been in place since the times
of former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and even first
Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. They also confirmed that the
reason for stopping railway wagons at the Azerbaijani-Georgian border
has nothing to do with transporting goods to Armenia. Goods have been
transported to Armenia through Georgia for the past 10
years. Therefore, there is no need to cool the already cold attitude
towards ethnic Azerbaijanis in Georgia by this meaningless suspension
of freight.
Both Saakashvili’s step and the approach of ethnic Azerbaijanis to the
issue give ground to hope that the tension that has been in place in
Borcali from time to time and that resulted in bloodshed the last time
will be gradually eliminated Borcali is known as Borchalo in Georgian;
administrative unit in Tsarist Russia since 1880, which included parts
of the current Georgian districts of Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Marneuli,
Tetri-Tsqaro and Tsalka . As a democratic head of state who expresses
the will of his people, Saakashvili undoubtedly makes a point of being
particular about the problems of his citizens. At the same time, he
thinks without distinguishing between the citizens that the problems
of ethnic Azerbaijanis are his own, like those of
Georgians. Therefore, he believes that an incident that resulted in
the killing of one individual is reason enough to sack his regional
representative.
“Positive” developments
It is interesting to wonder at this point if Ilham Aliyev would take
the same step in the same situation. It is difficult to give an
affirmative answer to this question, because since Azerbaijani
ex-president Heydar Aliyev’s rule there hasn’t been a single case of
the dismissal of a head of executive authorities in favour of the
grass roots.
But Saakashvili is ready and able to take these steps, because he is
building a democratic society in Georgia and accordingly sees no
reason to hide or conserve problems in the country, including in
Borcali. On the contrary, he is trying to uncover and fairly resolve
them.
At this point ethnic Azerbaijanis in Georgia, especially their elite
are behaving much in conformity with the quality of the new
regime. They are talking about their problems without giving way to
confrontation and conflict and in the worst case trying to resolve
them by democratic means such as peaceful protests. They have chosen
the line of integrating into Georgian society, which is getting
democratic, and cooperating with Georgia’s democratic authorities.
Like the new Georgian government, they are also trying to uncover
problems and resolve them fairly. They do not see a need to hide those
problems for the sake of the “Aliyev-Shevardnadze friendship” or to
aggravate them with counter-arguments. All these are positive
developments.
Azerbaijan creating problems for ethnic Azeris in Georgia
But let us see if Azerbaijan’s political leadership can contribute to
these positive developments. No, it cannot. On the contrary, it
creates needless problems, not just because its abilities are weak or
this is what it can do, but also because it wants to. It wants to harm
the Georgian leadership and spoil its reputation internationally and
among Azerbaijanis by creating problems for it. Because of this
approach, it has been keeping freight bound for Georgia at the border
for a long time and is glad to report price rises in Georgia. The
Ilham Aliyev administration, which is endeavouring to fan the incident
in Borcali and present it in a more dramatic light by using different
means, especially the electronic media it controls, has never entered
a normal dialogue with the Saakashvili administration to help resolve
the problems. On the contrary, it irritated the Georgians more by
keeping numerous railway wagons at the border under the pretext of
“their moving to Armenia”. The political irritation, which was created
by the Ilham Aliyev administration with political nastiness in Baku,
will harm ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Georgia.