THE SOCIOECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN JAVAKHETIA

Sergey MINASIAN

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Sergey Minasian, Ph.D. (Hist.), director of the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) State University Scientific Research Center for Southern Caucasus Security and Integration Studies, researcher at the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia (Erevan, Armenia)

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Introduction

On 10 March, 2005, the Georgian parliament adopted a resolution on the Russian military bases deployed in the country. It noted that if Moscow does not adopt a decision before 15 May on specific deadlines, acceptable to the Georgian side, for withdrawal of these troops, official Tbilisi will demand that the Russian Federation withdraw them before 1 January, 2006. What is more, the Georgian side will spare no effort to ensure this is done. This document aroused an unequivocal reaction in Javakhetia (the Armenian name for Javakhk), where the 62nd Russian military base is stationed. As early as 13 March, a mass meeting of several thousand participants, unprecedented in the region’s history, was held in the town of Akhalkalaki, the region’s center, at which representatives of the local Armenian sociopolitical organizations protested the Georgian parliamentarians’ decision. What is more, they demanded that the country’s leadership take immediate measures to improve the socioeconomic and political situation in Javakhk and recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide that took place in Turkey. This meeting, which became a catalyst for several further events, has attracted the keen interest of political scientists and journalists both in the Southern Caucasus and beyond it to Javakhk once more.

This region, which includes the Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda districts, is located in the extreme southeast of Georgia and borders directly on Turkey and Armenia. The demographic specifics of this territory (Armenians constitute more than 95 percent of its population) have……………

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