YEREVAN (Combined Sources)—In an odd manifestation of Tbilisi’s diplomatic overtures, Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, who is on a visit to Yerevan, denied the existence of Javakhk at a press conference Monday following meetings with Armenian officials.
“I don’t know what Javakhk is. There is no Javakhk region on the map,” Vashadze said in response to a journalist’s question regarding Tbilisi’s delay in signing the European convention of regional languages and the impact of that delay on the continuing education crisis in the Armenian-populated region of Javakhk.
Instead, Vashadze said that 103 Armenian schools were renovated on state funds, claiming that Armenian schools had received more attention than Georgian schools.
Vashadze, who was in Yerevan for talks with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian, spoke about Armenia’s military relations with Russia, expressing his government’s concerns over a recently signed defense agreement between Moscow and Yerevan, RFE/RL reported.
Still he stopped short of publicly criticizing the Armenian government for deepening its military ties with Moscow, and insisted that Armenia and Georgia are “finding understanding regarding each and every matter.”
“I would like to stress that Armenia is a sovereign nation and Armenia has the right to decide what kind of a security arrangement is good for this nation. Nobody doubts that,” Vashadze said after meeting Nalbandian.
“But Georgia has the sovereign right to make comments about the presence of a Russian military base in the South Caucasus, notwithstanding whether that bases is present. We have five bases in Georgia and, trust me, it is a persistent threat to our security, independence, and sovereignty,” he said, referring to Russian troops stationed in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“And when we are discussing the fate of the South Caucasus and its three independent states, it would be nice to remember 1921, when we, all three of us, lost independence during one year,” Vashadze added in reference to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia’s forced incorporation into the Soviet Union.
The Russian-Armenian pact signed in late August extended Russia’s long-term lease on a military base headquartered in Gyumri until 2044 and upgraded its role in Armenia’s security. It also calls for Russian arms deliveries to the Armenian military.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalanadze indicated later in August that Tbilisi is not worried about the deal, saying that Yerevan is “conscious of threats to Georgia emanating from Russia.” However, Vashadze was quoted by an Azerbaijani news agency in early September as calling the pact “a big threat to the region.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry suggested that the comments were distorted by the APA agency. “In any case, no foreign official has the right to meddle in our affairs and make comments on our security issues,” a ministry spokesman said at the time.
“I’ve never made comments about Armenian security, stability, independence, or sovereignty,” Vashadze told a joint news conference with Nalbandian. He said in that context that his statements are “sometimes not described quite accurately” by the media.
Speaking in English, the Georgian minister also downplayed the differing geopolitical orientations of the two neighboring states, saying that Georgian-Armenian relations “have not been better than they are today.”
“As close friends and neighboring countries, we will always have some issues to discuss, but we are trying not to transform those issues into problems,” he said. “I should say that we are finding understanding regarding each and every matter.”
Nalbandian agreed, presenting frequent meetings between Armenian and Georgian leaders as proof of that understanding. “There will always be issues between neighboring countries, between families or within a family, and those issues should be solved through meetings or negotiations,” he said. “There are no issues which we can’t solve through negotiations.”
Neither minister clarified whether the Russian troop presence was on the agenda of their talks. A statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said they discussed “a broad range of issues,” including bilateral economic ties.
Nalbandian emphasized the fact that the volume of Armenian-Georgian trade soared by over 50 percent to $140 million in the first nine months of this year. While welcoming the surge, Vashadze described the absolute figure as “shameful.”
“We shall seriously work on increasing that figure,” he said.
When you make comments like “there is no Javakh”, you are a bigger threat to Armenia’s security than Russia. When you instigate wars with Russia, you are a bigger threat to regional peace than Russia. How sad that you don’t see your goal to conquer and Georgianize the Abkhazians and Ossetians as imperialistic and wrong, even as you complain about Russia’s attempts to do the same to you.
During his visit to Yerevan, Vashadze should be treated to a geography lesson courtesy of the Republic of Armenia. What a neighborhood we live in. To the east, we have the people who oppressed our people and threaten war regularly. To the west , we stare every day at the depopulated area of western Armenia as a result of a genocide commited by another neighbor. To the north, we have these Georgian who are attempting to assimilate the Armenians who live within their borders. And this has been going on with our neighbors for a few thousand years. God has truly blessed us with a survival instinct… otherwise we would be like many other great civilizations that faded into extinction. Given the geopolitical realities, it really is a miracle and there is no doubt in my mind that our people will prevail.
That is very true,there was no Javakhk on the Georgian map historically, cause Javakhk is Armenians land and it was part of the Armenia, until the time not to long ago it was given to Georgians , Georgia as a good nabore of Armenia must return Javakhk back, to where it used to belong, evry just person knows where the truth lies, not telling the truth is bad to have a good relations.
Vashadze, humiliate Nalbandnian and Armenians, right in Armenia….Vashadze should thank to his old man, uncle Jo, who connected Javakhk to his beloved Georgia…
Who is the Georgian Prime Minister kidding that there is no such area as Javakh. He knows the history of what happened when Stalin under Soviet rule took the Javakh Region and gave it to his Georgian brothers in 1922. Not many know that Stalin the Dictator was a Georgian. The Armenian Government must stand up to defend the rights of the Armenians in Javakh whom should declare an Autonomous State within Georgia, just as Ossetia & Abkhasia, with the right to join the join the Free Republic of Armenia in due time. Stephen T. Dulgarian