Unrest In Javakheti

[Reincarnated Am]

The Akhalkalak Museum Will Soon be History

[November 28, 2005]

The museum building is in dire need of repair, never having been renovated since it was first built. It started to crumble in 1997, first the roof, then the floor. And now the walls are following suit. When it rains, water trickles into the interior of the building. According to museum director Seda Hambaryan, the museum is neglected by the government and there is no help.

“The artifacts in our museum are unique proof of the development of Armenian culture in Javakhk. There's a summary here of the history of Javakhk, so we need to care for and nurture the evidence of our history,” explained guide Marina Ghazaryan.

The museum opened its doors for the first time in 1958, with about 1,500 artifacts. The official opening wasn't until 1973; there were then 4,088 artifacts. The oldest artifact is an astronomical calendar from the Bronze Age. Despite its poor conditions, the number of visitors to the museum has actually increased in recent years. The entrance fee is 20 tetri (about 50 drams or 10 cents) for adults, and 10 tetri for schoolchildren.

“To safeguard these treasures, we need to renovate this museum. This is very important for our culture, but the ministry of culture doesn't want to help us,” the director said.

Seda Hambaryan first asked the ministry for help in 1997. She hasn't received any reply to the letters that she sends every year. Twice, the issue of the museum has come up during regional government meetings. In 2003 a program was outlined to renovate the museum, at a cost of 25,000 lari. But the program never made it off the page. “There are no resources in the regional budget,” went the explanation.

Hakob Hambaryan, who heads the regional government's culture department, confirmed what the director had said, and added that the museum's management, not expecting any help from the government, had opened a bank account for donations in Akhalkalak's national bank in 2005. “We hoped that our citizens would help us to rebuild the museum, but so far not a single penny has been donated,” he said.

The museum also appealed to Ilya II, the patriarch of the Georgian Church, as well as to various businessmen, all to no avail.

The only help so far has been 300 laris ($150) donated by Georgia's first lady Sandra Rulovs. The money was used to heat the museum. The museum's last hope is a US-based Armenian charity organization that has promised to provide funds for renovation.

Kristine Aghalaryan
Third-year student,
Department of Journalism,
Yerevan State University

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0511-museum.html

[Reincarnated Am]

Samtskhe-Javakheti residents raided custom houses at the Armenian-Georgian border

Samtskhe-Javakheti residents raided custom houses at the Armenian-Georgian border

On December 11, another incident occurred in the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The reason was a resent dismissal of all the ethnic Armenians from the customs office near the village of Zhdanovakan at the Armenian-Georgian border. They were replaced by Georgian custom officers from other regions of Georgia. As for many local residents their work in the custom house was the only income, and the appointment of the Georgian officers was regarded as an intention to toughen the regime for carrying foodstuffs through the border, it caused mass disorders among the population.

As a REGNUM correspondent reports, in the morning of December 11, hundreds of local residents rallied near the custom and border stations at the border of Georgia and Armenia. They appealed to the Samtskhe-Javakheti governor asking to come to the scene and investigate the situation. However, after the governor declined to come, a quarrel of the residents with the Georgian custom officials and frontier guards occurred. As a result, the Georgian officers had to live the check-points that were then partially destroyed. However, a group of the civilians then came to the Armenian check-point which was also damaged. Local residents explained their actions by the fact that along with the hard economic situation and unbearable conditions of life, the region is in reality half-blockaded and actions of the custom officials at the Georgian as well as at the Armenian border make the situation even worse. In Javakheti, physical and climate are conditions very complicated and the population’s activity depends strongly on food and goods supplies from the outside, which mostly come from Armenia. By their actions, they want to draw attention of the Georgian authorities as well as the Armenian authorities to the bad economic situation in the area.

As the REGNUM correspondent was told by representatives of the local non-governmental political organizations, the current forced and spontaneous rallies are “caused by continuing discriminating actions of the Georgian authorities.”

“We hope for an adequate reaction of the Georgian and Armenian leadership, who should understand that in the unbearable social and economic situation local residents have to react somehow not to let the situation become even worse,” said one of the rally initiators.

http://www.regnum.ru/english/accidents/558553.html

Permanent news address: www.regnum.ru/english/558553.html
13:01 12/12/2005

[Hovik]

I am disgusted by the way Javakh Armenians are being treated...

[Reincarnated Am]

Enough Is Enough!!!

Maybe we should start a petition and send it to the president of Georgia, saying that we, the Armenians of the Diaspora are watching and aware of the treatment of our brothers and sisters in Samtskhe and Javakheti, and this is not acceptable for us, any country that treat it’s citizens like a second or third class citizens don’t deserve to have the right to govern them, and if you don’t take serious action to correct the way of handling the situation immediately then don’t blame the people there if they will ask of the right to govern themselves, and us the Diaspora Armenians will help them in any way we can.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! I think we can make a difference, if every Armenian community centers or political offices in Diaspora come together and do this petition they will listen to us.

[Hovik]

I agree, any idea how we can get something like that started?

[Reincarnated Am]

I agree, any idea how we can get something like that started?

I don’t know if it’s possible to start a petition here on this site, if yes? We can start from here, we can ask (by e-mail) our friends, relatives or anyone we know to come and sign it, and we ask them to do the same and ask their friends and relatives or anyone they know to come and sign it, at least once they’re here, they can read some of what’s going on there and why is it that we are raising our concern. I think in short time we will have enough people on it, and then we can pass it on to our community leaders or priests telling them that this issue is really concerning us and we wont something to be done about it

[Reincarnated Am]

Also: Another incident in Samtskhe-Javakhetia

PanARMENIAN.Net/ On December 11, another incident occurred in the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The reason was a resent dismissal of all the ethnic Armenians from the customs office near the village of Zhdanovakan at the Armenian-Georgian border. They were replaced by Georgian custom officers from other regions of Georgia. As for many local residents their work in the custom house was the only income, and the appointment of the Georgian officers was regarded as an intention to toughen the regime for carrying foodstuffs through the border, it caused mass disorders among the population.

On December 11 morning hundreds of local residents rallied near the custom and border stations at the border of Georgia and Armenia. They appealed to the Samtskhe-Javakheti governor asking to come to the scene and investigate the situation. However, after the governor declined to come, a quarrel of the residents with the Georgian custom officials and frontier guards occurred. As a result, the Georgian officers had to live the check-points that were then partially destroyed. However, a group of the civilians then came to the Armenian check-point which was also damaged. Local residents explained their actions by the fact that along with the hard economic situation and unbearable conditions of life, the region is in reality half-blockaded and actions of the custom officials at the Georgian as well as at the Armenian border make the situation even worse. In Javakheti, physical and climate are conditions very complicated and the population’s activity depends strongly on food and goods supplies from the outside, which mostly come from Armenia. By their actions, they want to draw attention of the Georgian authorities as well as the Armenian authorities to the bad economic situation in the area.

Representatives of the local non-governmental political organizations say the current forced and spontaneous rallies are “caused by continuing discriminating actions of the Georgian authorities.”
“We hope for an adequate reaction of the Georgian and Armenian leadership, who should understand that in the unbearable social and economic situation local residents have to react somehow not to let the situation become even worse,” said one of the rally initiators, reported IA Regnum.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=15754

[Hovik]

Armenia has it's plate full as it is but these people need to be liberated, that's for sure - they are treated the same way Armenians in Artsakh were before the liberation movement... The government keeps them living in the lowest conditions, they have become a sub-society of the country

SAMTSKHE-JAVAKHETI RESIDENTS RAIDED CUSTOM HOUSES AT THE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN BORDER

Regnum, Russia
Dec. 12, 2005

On December 11, another incident occurred in the Armenian-populated
Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The reason was a resent dismissal
of all the ethnic Armenians from the customs office near the village
of Zhdanovakan at the Armenian-Georgian border. They were replaced by
Georgian custom officers from other regions of Georgia. As for many
local residents their work in the custom house was the only income,
and the appointment of the Georgian officers was regarded as an
intention to toughen the regime for carrying foodstuffs through the
border, it caused mass disorders among the population.

As a REGNUM correspondent reports, in the morning of December 11,
hundreds of local residents rallied near the custom and border
stations at the border of Georgia and Armenia. They appealed to
the Samtskhe-Javakheti governor asking to come to the scene and
investigate the situation. However, after the governor declined to
come, a quarrel of the residents with the Georgian custom officials
and frontier guards occurred. As a result, the Georgian officers had
to live the check-points that were then partially destroyed. However,
a group of the civilians then came to the Armenian check-point which
was also damaged. Local residents explained their actions by the fact
that along with the hard economic situation and unbearable conditions
of life, the region is in reality half-blockaded and actions of the
custom officials at the Georgian as well as at the Armenian border
make the situation even worse. In Javakheti, physical and climate are
conditions very complicated and the population's activity depends
strongly on food and goods supplies from the outside, which mostly
come from Armenia. By their actions, they want to draw attention of
the Georgian authorities as well as the Armenian authorities to the
bad economic situation in the area.

As the REGNUM correspondent was told by representatives of the local
non-governmental political organizations, the current forced and
spontaneous rallies are "caused by continuing discriminating actions
of the Georgian authorities."

"We hope for an adequate reaction of the Georgian and Armenian
leadership, who should understand that in the unbearable social and
economic situation local residents have to react somehow not to let
the situation become even worse," said one of the rally initiators.

[Reincarnated Am]

Call To The President Of Georgia

Today a letter has been sent to the President of the Republic of Georgia Mikhail Sahakashvili on behalf of the volunteers of the Artsakh war. The letter has been signed by General-Mayor Arkadi Tadevosyan, First Commander of the Artsakh Army Arkadi Karapetyan and Commander of the Shushi detachment Jirayr Sefilyan. The reason of the letter was the latest incident in Javakhq.

The letter reads, «The latest news from Javakhq and other Georgian regions resided by Armenians is seriously alarming. It testifies to the fact that the Georgian Government has adopted a program of ousting the local Armenian population from the area. Coming across the natural counter-acts of the residents, the authorities have used the methods of force several times. Further anti-Armenian activities in the Republic of Georgia will seriously harm the Armenian-Georgian relations which could be much friendlier. We call on the official Tbilisi to be more sensible and we warn that as the world experience shows, the methods of force can cause undesirable developments».

[Hovik]

Alas - as I said: treated the same way as the pre-liberation community of Artsakh, hence: send a letter from veterans of that war Beautiful!

All I need is a plane ticket for myself, my wife and my child. I'll be there to fight for the protection of my Armenian brothers and sisters in Javakh...

But I wish there was a way to settle this peacefully