Armenian Georgian Relations

[Federate]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Saakashvili Calls for Easing of Visa Rules with Armenia
01/10/2008 10:36

The FINANCIAL -- According to Civil Georgia,President Saakashvili called for the simplification of visa rules between Georgia and Armenia, saying it would improve relations between the two countries.

“The Georgian-Armenian border should be and it already is the border of friendship,” Saakashvili said at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarkisyan, in Tbilisi on September 30. “We have agreed to work more closely. I have instructed the ministers of finance and economy to visit Yerevan in order to ensure that border crossing procedures are as simple as possible.”

He said that the two countries would work jointly to boost bi-lateral economic ties, in particular through the construction of new roads linking the two countries.

Saakashvili also said that he and Sarkisyan had agreed to set up a consortium to attract funds for the construction of a new transit highway through the Goderdzi Pass in the Adjaran Autonomous Republic. He added that the road, the construction of which will take several years, will half the traveling time from Armenia to the Black Sea region.

He also thanked the Armenian president for expressing support for Georgia’s territorial integrity.

“I think that recent developments in Georgia have clearly demonstrated how important regional cooperation is, how everybody suffers from problems and conflicts and how important it is to solve all the issues quickly,” Saakashvili said.

He also said both countries were close to finalizing work on border delimitation and “practically there are no unsettled issues there.”

“I am sure that the future of the Caucasus is in the creation of a uniform market, the creation of uniform human, cultural and economic spheres, close cooperation with other countries of the region. Of course, before coming to that, we should settle the existing problems, but I am sure that all these problems can be settled,” Saakashvili added.

The Armenian president said at the press conference that the two countries have more room to improve bilateral cooperation. He stressed that Georgia’s stability was very important for Armenia.

The Armenian president also emphasized that existing problems could not be settled through military intervention. “We all understand that the Caucasus is a small region, but it is a very sensitive area, as interests are intercrossed here and we should do our best to ensure that these interests are used in favor of our peoples,” President Sarkisyan said at the press conference.

From http://finchannel.com/index.php?opti...0927&Itemid=14

[Armanen]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

ARMENIA-gEORGIA



New Situation Opens New Prospects


President Serge Sargsyan’s yesterday’s visit to Georgia is one of the most remarkable and important events observed in both countries as well as the whole South Caucasian region in the course of the past two weeks.

As we know, the Armenian-Georgian interstate relations stood a difficult test during the Russian-Georgian war. Being Russia’s strategic ally on the one hand and Georgia’s direct neighbor on the other, Armenia managed, after all, to maintain neutrality without damaging the interests of any of the parties to the conflict.

Although after Russia’s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia Armenia acted in compliance with its commitments under the CIS Collective Treaty Organization and acceded to the joint statement condemning the steps of the official Tbilisi, it refused to recognize the independence of the two breakaway republics of Georgia.

Of course, the balanced and restrained attitude of the official Yerevan gave rise to certain questions among the parties to the conflict. However, such questions were definitely justified from the point of view of national interests. A country blockaded by Azerbaijan and Turkey and having a transportation and communication channel passing via the territory of Georgia as well as an Armenian community in that country couldn’t have acted otherwise.

And the geopolitical developments taking place in South Ossetia following the Russian-Georgian war came to prove that the balanced and restrained policy adopted by Armenia was not only the only way towards overcoming the force majeure but also the prerequisite for obtaining the required “freedom of hands” in the course of the further developments. And that is proven by the following three realities:

First: The Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan transportation and communications axis that was being formed in the South Caucasus under the auspices of the West and with the active participation of Turkey began collapsing in a gradual though consistent manner in the post-war period. The evidence of it is the halting of the export of the Azerbaijani oil via the Baku-Jehyan oil pipeline as well as Ankara’s hesitations about the expediency of building the Kars -Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway corridor.

Second: Having lost South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia linked its destiny with the prospect of being integrated to the Western infra-structures at a time when Turkey and Azerbaijan, the “hostile neighbors” of Armenia, initiated attempts of a dialogue with Russia, the only real strategic partner of our country.

Third: Russia and Georgia which became “sworn enemies” as a result of these two simultaneous processes on the one hand and Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan which are striving to become “sworn friends” on the other hand sketched a specific kind of new “chessboard” around Armenia, requiring our country to strengthen its previous cooperation and mutual trust with Georgia in order to “play” without errors.

On the one hand, Georgia is a defeated and weakened neighbor for Armenia, but on the other hand, it is a country playing the role of a “regional bridgehead” for the United States and the European Union. From the point of view of the national interests of Armenia, it is not absolutely advantageous to shift the “sharp angels” of the West-Russia conflict to the South Caucasus automatically.

Any such conflict increases the value and importance of Turkey and hence – Azerbaijan, in the eyes of the west and especially Russia. At the same time, it also reduces Armenia’s potentials for conducting a complementary policy.

Therefore, the maintenance of the “window” looking to the West through Georgia is Armenia’s only guarantee ensuring the on-going nature of the policy it has adopted for raising its weigh and value for all the “players” in the region. In such conditions, neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan will view our country as a “change” for the “sworn friendship” with Moscow, and the Russian political scientists will no longer say that “the Armenians have nowhere to escape, anyway”.

This means that in conditions of the present-day situation, both Armenia and Georgia are capable of finding ways towards the solution of the existing problems in the bilateral relations in a more speedy and rational manner. These concern not only the problems in the sphere of transport and communication, but also the situation of the Armenians living in Javahk and the other regions of Georgia.

It’s no secret that Javahk has found itself in an ambiguous situation following the Russian-Georgian war. On the one hand, Javahk loses its value as a Turkish-Georgian-Azerbaijani transportation-communication junction, and on the other hand, the serious powers interested in the region become more actively interested in the prospect of making the Armenian-populated territory of Georgia one of the “subjects” of the implementation of Georgia’s federalization program.

The situation of the Armenians living in the other regions of Georgia has also changed significantly as the country received new and large groups of Georgian and Svan immigrants as a result of the Russian-Georgian war. At the same time, the situation of the Georgian-Armenians working in Russia has become complicated, as these people have found themselves “between the devil and the deep sea” so to say.

Besides, the problems of returning the Armenian churches expropriated in Tbilisi and other towns of Georgia, providing the Armenian schools with text-books and pedagogues and a number of other educational and cultural issues continue to remain acute.

The bilateral willingness of having a thorough discussion over all these issues and finding relevant solutions in conditions of the new regional developments can undoubtedly create a positive atmosphere for the further extension of the Armenian-Georgian dialogue and cooperation.

VARTAN GRIGORYAN

http://www.armtown.com/news/en/has/20081001/293793369/

[Armanen]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

azerbaijan, turkey going to split georgia into autonomies?

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to some Turkish and Azeri sources, Baku and Ankara intend to increase pressure on Georgia for "federalization" of the country.

Turkey and Azerbaijan are going to urge Tbilisi to restore Ajaria's de facto autonomy, to grant a special status to the Azeri minority of Kvemo-Kartli and repatriate Turks-Meskhetians to Georgia.

Ajarian autonomy has been actually abolished by Saakashvili's government in 2004. Pursuing a tough policy of "georgification", Tbilisi forces Ajars to register as Georgian Muslims. Turks-Meskhetians are urged to restore "their Georgian surnames."

Azeri media quoted a source in the Foreign Ministry as saying that Baku launches the procedure of granting Azerbaijani citizenship to the residents of Georgia's Kvemo-Kartli (Borchaly). The source said that upon completion of the procedure, Azerbaijan will demand a status of autonomy for the region and in case of Georgia's rejection will send troops there, RBC-daily reports.

Meanwhile, Milliyet Turkish daily quoted a Turkish MFA official who, on condition of anonymity, spoke of 'guarantees of Turkic population in Georgia.' Creation of a federation is the only way to maintain Georgia's territorial integrity, according to him.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=27288

If this is true, Yerevan better find a way to either stall it or even better, to push for the autonomy of Javakh. Also, are Armenians in Javakh being encouraged to get Armenian passports?

[crusader1492]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

azerbaijan, turkey going to split georgia into autonomies?

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to some Turkish and Azeri sources, Baku and Ankara intend to increase pressure on Georgia for "federalization" of the country.

Turkey and Azerbaijan are going to urge Tbilisi to restore Ajaria's de facto autonomy, to grant a special status to the Azeri minority of Kvemo-Kartli and repatriate Turks-Meskhetians to Georgia.

Ajarian autonomy has been actually abolished by Saakashvili's government in 2004. Pursuing a tough policy of "georgification", Tbilisi forces Ajars to register as Georgian Muslims. Turks-Meskhetians are urged to restore "their Georgian surnames."

Azeri media quoted a source in the Foreign Ministry as saying that Baku launches the procedure of granting Azerbaijani citizenship to the residents of Georgia's Kvemo-Kartli (Borchaly). The source said that upon completion of the procedure, Azerbaijan will demand a status of autonomy for the region and in case of Georgia's rejection will send troops there, RBC-daily reports.

Meanwhile, Milliyet Turkish daily quoted a Turkish MFA official who, on condition of anonymity, spoke of 'guarantees of Turkic population in Georgia.' Creation of a federation is the only way to maintain Georgia's territorial integrity, according to him.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=27288

If this is true, Yerevan better find a way to either stall it or even better, to push for the autonomy of Javakh. Also, are Armenians in Javakh being encouraged to get Armenian passports?

The Armenian Government should be on top of this in order to capitalize on securing "autonomy" for Javakhk while at the same time preventing the return of Turks into Georgia and fighting (covertly) any attempt by Azerbaijan to invade Georgian territories.
Armenian cannot allow Georgia to be overrun by Turks...that would be more of a disaster than Georgia being overrun by Georgians

Btw, in case you did not know, Turkey's push to "repatriate" the Meskhetian-Turks is their way of neutralizing Armenian influence in Georgia (and in the long term, the caucuses)...that is, the sneaky bastards are demanding that these Turks settle in Armenian populated Javakhk so that they can bleed Armenians once more.

Javakhk needs guns, guns, and more guns.

[crusader1492]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Here's a map of minority ethnic concentrations in Georgia:

Keep in mind Turkey and Azerbaijan's plan:

1. "Autonomy" for Muslim Ajaria
2. "Autonomy" for Azeris in Georgia
3. "Repatriate" Turks to Armenian populated Javakhk.

...if they succeed, their pan-Turk dream will come true.

[Armanen]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

The turks encircling Armenia is exactly what I had in mind when I said Armenia should either prevent this, if it thinks relations with georgia would be soured if Armenia supported autonomy for Javakh, or work toward getting autonomy for Javakh and give out citizenship to the Armenians there.

[TomServo]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Georgian propaganda blog on Javakhk:

http://javakheti.wordpress.com/

[ZORAVAR]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Turkey, Azerbaijan worried over Saakashvili's temper

Turkey and Azerbaijan plan to force Tbilisi to accept the idea of the federalization of Georgia.
Analysts say the two countries don't want Georgia to be split, but they do not trust the government of Mikheil Saakashvili and therefore want to strengthen control over strategic communications in Georgia.
On Saturday evening, Azerbaijani news agencies said, quoting a source in the foreign ministry, that Baku would issue Azerbaijani passports to the residents of the Kvemo-Kartli region in Georgia, called Borchaly in Azerbaijan.
After that Azerbaijan would demand that Georgia grant autonomy to the region, the source said, threatening to deploy its troops there in the event of a refusal.
An anonymous source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry said last week that Turkey would demand "security guarantees for the Turkic residents of Georgia." The establishment of a "multilevel federation" will be the only guarantee of Georgia's territorial integrity, the Turkish diplomat said.
Turkey also intends to insist that Georgia "restore the real autonomy" of Adzharia and repatriate all Meskhetian Turks to Georgia and give them special status.
Saakashvili unofficially annulled Adzharia's autonomy in 2004 and has since been forcing Adzharians to register as "Muslim Georgians."
The repatriation of Meskhetian Turks, which the Georgian parliament announced in June 2007, has been postponed for the same reasons. Meskhetians are forced to register as Georgians and to "retake their Georgian surnames," which the majority of them refuse to do.
Alexei Vlasov, head of Moscow State University's information and analysis center studying socio-political processes in the post-Soviet space, said Turkey and Azerbaijan were unlikely to use military force to "convince" Georgia to accept federalization.
They don't want to split Georgia, but they mistrust the Saakashvili government, Vlasov said. Turkey and Azerbaijan have organized leaks to the media to "remind Tbilisi that they have means of influencing the situation."
Adzharia, Kvemo-Kartli and Meskhetia are the transit regions for communications vital to Azerbaijan and Turkey, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and the Baku-Supsa oil pipelines, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad project.
Before the war in South Ossetia, Azerbaijan and Turkey considered the Saakashvili government as the only guarantor of these communications' safety. Now they see that they need to control Tbilisi, and have decided to use the Georgian autonomies and their loyal diasporas towards this end.

Moskovsky Komsomolets

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20081007/117537098.html

[Armanen]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Once again, Armenia better get into the mix, either for it or against but the worst thing it can do is to remain idle.

[meline]

Re: Armenian Georgian Relations

Thanks for the articles Armanen and Zoravar.

Obviously both Turkey and Azerbaijan are flexing a muscle here. Anyways, whatever comes out of their policy will not be without Russia's blessing, that's for sure. The South of Caucassuss has often been bargained by Russia throughout history. The question is what would Kremlin prefer....One weak enemy or two strong competitors to its influence? The logical answer is obvious, but international politics and above all the real politik consist of more than pure logic. So let's wait and judge by the objective facts.

As far as our government not sitting idle is concerned, I agree. We should use the opening and at least give Armenian citizenship to the Armenians in Javakh.