CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 31

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2)
Georgian. The language barrier creates additional difficulties while trying
to pursue higher education and find an appropriate job in Georgia. The
high unemployment rate causes continuous demographic change in
Javakhk. While trying to make a living, many Javakhk Armenians have to
leave their homes mostly for Russia. 50
Georgian authorities have recently been attempting to deprive the
communal regions of Georgia of several aspects of independence, and
Samtskhe-Javakheti is among them. For instance, the local self-governing
bodies have been separated from the executive ones. Since then the latter
has been appointed by Presidential Decree. Karapetyan states that the
appointed officials are usually local Armenians but are chosen when they
seem more accepting of the government’s policies concerning Javakheti.
As a result, the demands on behalf of the Armenian minority of Javakhk
are not fully delivered to the authorities, and many issues remain
unresolved. 51 Regarding representation in the Georgian Parliament, the
Armenian minority gained three seats during the 2016 elections, which
Tonoyan calls “symbolic” and “limited”. 52
The Georgian government is concerned with “irredentist claims”
heard from Javakhk Armenians based on its fears with the precedent of
Nagorno Karabakh, although those are nothing more than “grassroots
level” statements. 53 There have been several attempts by specific groups
or individuals from the local Armenian population to speak up for their
rights, especially in the early 1990s and mid-2000s. However, those
attempts gradually faded away when the Georgian government quickly
managed to co-opt the leaders. 54 In their turn, Armenian authorities have
made every possible effort to not inflame separatist sentiments in Javakhk
and have never encouraged those aspirations. Armenia has always cared
about maintaining normal relations with its northern neighbor, since
Georgia is the only transit route for Armenia to Western markets and the
deterioration of relations between the two countries may negatively affect
the Armenian economy. 55

50
Jonathan Wheatley, “Obstacles Impeding the Regional Integration of the Javakheti
Region of Georgia”, European Centre for Minority Issues (2004), 10,
https://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/redakteure/publications/pdf/working_paper_22.pdf.
51 Karapetyan, “Hay-Vratsakan Hamaynqy”, 40-42.
52 Tonoyan “Rising Armenian-Georgia Tensions”, 296.
53 Gachechiladze, “Geopolitics in the South Caucasus”, 122.
54 Vahram Ter-Matevosyan & Brent Currie, “A conflict that did not happen: revisiting the
Javakhk affair in Georgia”, Nations and Nationalism 25, no. 1 (2018): 15.
55 Asanishvili, “Main Security Challenges”, 51-70.
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