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Rustavi-2 TV, Georgia
Jan 28 2013
Georgian President says Armenian activist's release increases separatism risk
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has once again criticized the
government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili over the release from
prison of ethnic Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan.
In an address to displaced persons from Abkhazia at his Tbilisi
residence on 28 January, Saakashvili drew several historical parallels
and warned that in the ethnic Armenian-populated Javakheti region,
people like Chakhalyan diminish locals' sense of being part of the
Georgian state.
In his remarks, part of which was broadcast by Rustavi-2 TV, he said:
"Of course, the presence or absence of one person in prison may not be
historically decisive, but today this is a problem. If anyone had
caught and imprisoned [Abkhaz separatist leader] Vladislav Ardzinba
somewhere, Abkhazia would not have happened the way it did. Had Torez
Kulumbegov and Alan Chochiyev, the leaders of Adamon Nykhas
[organization advocating South Ossetia's secession from Georgia in the
early 1990s] not been released, what happened in Tskhinvali would not
have happened.
"They [Georgian government] say 'we have nothing to do with it; they
were amnestied'. Sorry, but that amnesty was an amnesty approved by
the Georgian parliamentary majority. And we talked about it a lot
[before it was passed] without making any noise. They cannot say they
did not know. They knew very well. And I spoke to them specifically
about this, telling them not to release Shrilnikov and his brethren
[Russian citizens convicted of spying for Russia], and not to release
Chakhalyan. The rest of the amnesty [amnestied prisoners] is a problem
- burgled cottages, booths and shops are a clear confirmation of this
- but it is a problem that can be dealt with. And now they are saying:
'No big deal, if someone raises their voice, we will put him back in'.
You cannot just put him back in.
"It was a long time ago when not a single Georgian policeman could
enter Javakheti. That was before the rose revolution. It took to me
and my friends two years to establish order there after the rose
revolution. Chakhalyan says that he never had any problems before
that, that it was only Saakashvili who caused him problems. Of course
he did not have any problems before that. Before that, not a single
Georgian soldier, not a single Georgian policeman, not a single
representative of Georgian power could go there. So of course he did
not have any problems. It [Javakheti] was completely controlled by the
Russians. It was in the Russians' hands.
"The Russian army's new doctrine - they published it two days ago - is
that Russia's new wars are to be based on local protest potential. So,
first local people need to come out and express protest and then they
come in. In 1920 we [Georgian Democratic Republic 1918-21] released
Russian spies on an amnesty deal that we signed. We released Lavrenti
Beria, we released [Georgian Bolshevik] Pilipe Makharadze and other
spies which the first republic had imprisoned. Then in 1921, one of
the ethnic minority groups [Ossetians] supposedly revolted and on that
basis the 11th [Bolshevik] army came in with Georgians at its helm.
"What message are we sending to the Georgians who are teaching
Georgian there by releasing Chakhalyan? What message are sending to
the local ethnic Armenian citizens who have come to believe in the
Georgian state and in recent years followed us in believing that their
future is in Georgia? What are we telling them? Now this bandit will
go there and terrorize those who are on the side of the Georgian
state. And who will protect them?
"I want to say that we must indeed be very careful. The Georgian state
is very young, as we have been creating it over the past nine years.
The main advantage that our citizens have gained in recent years in
Akhalkalaki [major city in Javakheti] is the fact that we are living
in a state, including in regard to many of their neighbours: that we
are living in a great place. This could disappear too. I do not want
this sense of statehood to disappear."
[Translated from Georgian]
Jan 28 2013
Georgian President says Armenian activist's release increases separatism risk
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has once again criticized the
government of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili over the release from
prison of ethnic Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan.
In an address to displaced persons from Abkhazia at his Tbilisi
residence on 28 January, Saakashvili drew several historical parallels
and warned that in the ethnic Armenian-populated Javakheti region,
people like Chakhalyan diminish locals' sense of being part of the
Georgian state.
In his remarks, part of which was broadcast by Rustavi-2 TV, he said:
"Of course, the presence or absence of one person in prison may not be
historically decisive, but today this is a problem. If anyone had
caught and imprisoned [Abkhaz separatist leader] Vladislav Ardzinba
somewhere, Abkhazia would not have happened the way it did. Had Torez
Kulumbegov and Alan Chochiyev, the leaders of Adamon Nykhas
[organization advocating South Ossetia's secession from Georgia in the
early 1990s] not been released, what happened in Tskhinvali would not
have happened.
"They [Georgian government] say 'we have nothing to do with it; they
were amnestied'. Sorry, but that amnesty was an amnesty approved by
the Georgian parliamentary majority. And we talked about it a lot
[before it was passed] without making any noise. They cannot say they
did not know. They knew very well. And I spoke to them specifically
about this, telling them not to release Shrilnikov and his brethren
[Russian citizens convicted of spying for Russia], and not to release
Chakhalyan. The rest of the amnesty [amnestied prisoners] is a problem
- burgled cottages, booths and shops are a clear confirmation of this
- but it is a problem that can be dealt with. And now they are saying:
'No big deal, if someone raises their voice, we will put him back in'.
You cannot just put him back in.
"It was a long time ago when not a single Georgian policeman could
enter Javakheti. That was before the rose revolution. It took to me
and my friends two years to establish order there after the rose
revolution. Chakhalyan says that he never had any problems before
that, that it was only Saakashvili who caused him problems. Of course
he did not have any problems before that. Before that, not a single
Georgian soldier, not a single Georgian policeman, not a single
representative of Georgian power could go there. So of course he did
not have any problems. It [Javakheti] was completely controlled by the
Russians. It was in the Russians' hands.
"The Russian army's new doctrine - they published it two days ago - is
that Russia's new wars are to be based on local protest potential. So,
first local people need to come out and express protest and then they
come in. In 1920 we [Georgian Democratic Republic 1918-21] released
Russian spies on an amnesty deal that we signed. We released Lavrenti
Beria, we released [Georgian Bolshevik] Pilipe Makharadze and other
spies which the first republic had imprisoned. Then in 1921, one of
the ethnic minority groups [Ossetians] supposedly revolted and on that
basis the 11th [Bolshevik] army came in with Georgians at its helm.
"What message are we sending to the Georgians who are teaching
Georgian there by releasing Chakhalyan? What message are sending to
the local ethnic Armenian citizens who have come to believe in the
Georgian state and in recent years followed us in believing that their
future is in Georgia? What are we telling them? Now this bandit will
go there and terrorize those who are on the side of the Georgian
state. And who will protect them?
"I want to say that we must indeed be very careful. The Georgian state
is very young, as we have been creating it over the past nine years.
The main advantage that our citizens have gained in recent years in
Akhalkalaki [major city in Javakheti] is the fact that we are living
in a state, including in regard to many of their neighbours: that we
are living in a great place. This could disappear too. I do not want
this sense of statehood to disappear."
[Translated from Georgian]