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JAVAKHK COMMUNITY LEADER HOLDS TALKS AT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
ASBAREZ
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
JAVAKHK (A-Info)--The coordinator of the Council of Armenian
Organizations (NGOs) of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk) and director
of the A-Info news agency Artak Gabrielyan traveled to Brussels
earlier this month and held meetings with key members of the European
Parliament and other European Union officials.
Artak Gabrielyan and Andrey Kovachev
During his visit to Brussels, Gabrielyan met with Euro-Parliament
Vice-Speaker Yorghos Papastamakos (member of the Euro-Parliament South
Caucasus delegation), Traian Ungureanu, member of the Euro-Parliament
Committee of Foreign Relations and Andrey Kovachev, Vice-Chairman of
Euro-Parliament Committee of Foreign Relations, Charles Tannock, member
of the Euro-Parliament Committee on Foreign Relations and Human Rights
and Jiri Mastalka, member of the Euro-Parliament Bureau and Euronest.
At these meetings, Gabrielyan introduced the plight of the Armenian
community Javakhk, highlighting that his visit to Brussels comes
as a result of the refusal of Georgian authorities to meet with
representatives of the Javakhk Armenian community.
He also presented each person with a Memorandum to the European
Parliament, which details the issues facing Javakhk and highlights
demands that have been put forth by the Council of Armenian
Organizations (NGOs) of Samtskhe-Javakhk.
Charles Tannock with Artak Gabrielyan
The demands Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenians include: 1. Granting of
autonomous territorial status (with its own directly elected assembly)
to Samtskhe-Javakheti and the adjacent Armenian majority Tsalka
district within a federal Georgia; 2. Allowing the use of the Armenian
language in public administration in those municipalities--such as
Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda--in which Armenians make up a majority;
an unfulfilled accession commitment Georgia undertook when it joined
the Council of Europe in 1999, namely the signing of the European
Charter for Regional and Minority Languages; 3. Social and economic
development projects for the region to bring it up to par with the
rest of the country; 4. Improved Armenian representation in local
and state institutions; and 5. An end to social engineering by the
settlement of ethnic non-Armenians from other parts of the country
in Samtskhe-Javakheti.
>From l to r: Kaspar Karapetian, Artak Gabrielyan and Jiri Mastalka
Gabrielyan also stressed that the Council wanted the European Union
and Europe, in general, to be engaged in this process and to urge its
ally, Georgia, to properly address the issues pertaining to Javakhk.
Gabrielyan was accompanied by members of the Armenian National
Committee of Belgium Kaspar Karapetian and Bedo Demirdjian.
Read the entire Memorandum to the European Parliament and European
Institutions.
ASBAREZ
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
JAVAKHK (A-Info)--The coordinator of the Council of Armenian
Organizations (NGOs) of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk) and director
of the A-Info news agency Artak Gabrielyan traveled to Brussels
earlier this month and held meetings with key members of the European
Parliament and other European Union officials.
Artak Gabrielyan and Andrey Kovachev
During his visit to Brussels, Gabrielyan met with Euro-Parliament
Vice-Speaker Yorghos Papastamakos (member of the Euro-Parliament South
Caucasus delegation), Traian Ungureanu, member of the Euro-Parliament
Committee of Foreign Relations and Andrey Kovachev, Vice-Chairman of
Euro-Parliament Committee of Foreign Relations, Charles Tannock, member
of the Euro-Parliament Committee on Foreign Relations and Human Rights
and Jiri Mastalka, member of the Euro-Parliament Bureau and Euronest.
At these meetings, Gabrielyan introduced the plight of the Armenian
community Javakhk, highlighting that his visit to Brussels comes
as a result of the refusal of Georgian authorities to meet with
representatives of the Javakhk Armenian community.
He also presented each person with a Memorandum to the European
Parliament, which details the issues facing Javakhk and highlights
demands that have been put forth by the Council of Armenian
Organizations (NGOs) of Samtskhe-Javakhk.
Charles Tannock with Artak Gabrielyan
The demands Samtskhe-Javakheti Armenians include: 1. Granting of
autonomous territorial status (with its own directly elected assembly)
to Samtskhe-Javakheti and the adjacent Armenian majority Tsalka
district within a federal Georgia; 2. Allowing the use of the Armenian
language in public administration in those municipalities--such as
Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda--in which Armenians make up a majority;
an unfulfilled accession commitment Georgia undertook when it joined
the Council of Europe in 1999, namely the signing of the European
Charter for Regional and Minority Languages; 3. Social and economic
development projects for the region to bring it up to par with the
rest of the country; 4. Improved Armenian representation in local
and state institutions; and 5. An end to social engineering by the
settlement of ethnic non-Armenians from other parts of the country
in Samtskhe-Javakheti.
>From l to r: Kaspar Karapetian, Artak Gabrielyan and Jiri Mastalka
Gabrielyan also stressed that the Council wanted the European Union
and Europe, in general, to be engaged in this process and to urge its
ally, Georgia, to properly address the issues pertaining to Javakhk.
Gabrielyan was accompanied by members of the Armenian National
Committee of Belgium Kaspar Karapetian and Bedo Demirdjian.
Read the entire Memorandum to the European Parliament and European
Institutions.