Dispersed drivers
This morning at 10 a.m. drivers of cars with Georgian state license numbers of Shirak province gathered at the station in Gyumri to move toward Bavra with the purpose of closing down the road from Armenia to Georgia.
The car march was against the prohibition and compulsory customs check for cars with Georgian state license numbers. However, the march didn't take place after nearly 300 police officers closed the drivers' road and took some of them in an unknown direction. Eyewitnesses say the police officers had bludgeons.
The appeal-complaint of the drivers of Shirak province with Georgian state license numbers to the authorities:
"We the drivers of Shirak province with Georgian state license numbers are compelled to appeal to you with our issues and demands.
We do not accept the developed and adopted legislative reforms according to which RA citizens may drive cars with Georgian state license numbers for a maximum of 15 days and by which we are forced to pay customs fees at high prices that we are not capable of paying. We inform that we drive those cars with Georgian state license numbers because according to the RA legislation and the prices set by the RA State Revenue Committee, our financial state doesn't allow us to pay the customs fees or purchase more expensive cars in case of more income; otherwise, if we knew that the Armenian government would adopt such an intriguing legislative reform, we simply wouldn't have purchased those cars and temporarily import them to Armenia.
We are certain that the above mentioned reforms in the RA legislation were made without taking into account the interests of tens of thousands of Armenian families, without estimating the social, economic and demographic effects of those reforms and were made with the purpose of increasing the state budget in the best case scenario and continuing to make Armenians leave the country in the worst case scenario. In addition, those legislative reforms impede the free move of our fellow Armenians of Javakhk to Shirak province and the Republic of Armenia.
To solve the issue peacefully, we appeal to you with the following demands and suggest quick fulfillment:
1. Reinstate the legislative regime for the traffic of cars with Georgian state license numbers in Armenia existing until late 2010.
2. In addition to reinstating the old regime for the traffic of cars with Georgian state license numbers in Armenia, instead of the obligation to cross the border once a month, we suggest setting a monthly fee of 2,000 drams which the drivers will be obliged to pay without crossing the border.
3. Make a radical reform in the system of calculating the customs fees, the rates and payments so that it will be favorable for average citizens like us to import cars and pay the customs fees.
4. Make changes in the existing RA legislation to make it possible to entrust others with authorization to drive cars with Georgian state license numbers.
We must inform that we will fight for the protection of our interests and constitutional rights with determination and persistence. We will use all means that are not prohibited by law; we will organize meetings, marches and rallies; we will address the public, as well as the international community and the governments of foreign countries for the solution to this problem.
We call on you to be rational and protect the interests of your own citizens not through words and formality."
