Tbilisi: Locals Clash in Multi-Ethnic Tsalka after Burglary Case

[Antonian Lara]

Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 18 2005

Locals Clash in Multi-Ethnic Tsalka after Burglary Case

Several people were injured after local residents of multi-ethnic
Tsalka district in Kvemo Kartli region in southern Georgia clashed on
March 17.

Reports say that clashes erupted between local Georgian and group of
local Greeks and Armenians, after unknown group assaulted ethnic
Greek family in an attempt of burglary in the village of Avralo in
Tsalka district. Local Greeks and Armenians accused ethnic Georgians
of this burglary.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on March 18 that
`situation in Tsalka is under control' adding that `there is no
ethnic conflict between the locals in Tsalka.'

Local officials describe clashes between ethnic Georgians and
Armenians, which have been reported sporadically in Tsalka district
for several years, as `a communal violence.'

Ethnic Armenians comprise 57% of population of Tsalka district with
population around 20,000, according to the Georgian department of
statistics. 4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic Georgians, up to 2,000
Azerbaijanis also live in there.