“White” genocide or…?
"The Georgian government's policy on Javakhk Armenians is a "white genocide"," President of "Javakhk" Compatriotic Union, NA Deputy Shirak Torosyan told "A1+" and particularly addressed the Georgian government's recent methods used in the anti-Armenian policy.
"The Georgian government has reduced Armenian language class hours in Armenian schools of Javakhk and from now on, there will only be 2 class hours," he said.
"A1+" tried to find out information about these issues from the locals.
"I think the issues that Armenia emphasizes as issues endangering the identity of Javakhk Armenians don't correspond to reality that much," says journalist of "Southern Gate" bilingual weekly of Samtskhe-Javakhk Kristine Marabyan. According to her, there are issues that can't be ignored, but the fact that Javakhk Armenians are citizens of Georgia can't be ignored either.
Addressing the issue concerning mandatory instruction of Georgian, the journalist notes that "the Georgian government is not doing anything evil, if it is making attempts to teach Georgian to the Armenian community."
In addition to positive changes such as city improvement, road construction and renovation of schools, the journalist also talked about flaws, especially the uncertain state of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
"We are rather concerned about the Apostolic Church in Georgia because it has no status," says the journalist, attaching importance to the active participation of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
According to Kristine, another important issue is the fact that the Armenian community is not engaged in large-scale projects.
According to resident of Bavra village in Akhalkalak region Sedrak Berikyan, many Javakhk Armenians are trying to acquire Armenian citizenship without any pressure from the Georgian government. Berikyan says he is generally content with the Georgian government's policies, specifically Sahakashvili's domestic policy, but can't say the same for his foreign policy.
"That can be explained due to the fact that the majority of us leave for seasonal labor in the Russian Federation and besides that, most of our relatives live there as well," he says.
