Georgia compensated Armenia?
President of the "Javakhk" Compatriotic Union Shirak Torosyan says he thought the Georgian authorities were better than they actually are.
"We Armenians believed in our "good" neighbors a little too much. I had even announced that the Georgian authorities were finally able to show good political will regarding at least one issue," Mr. Torosyan told "A1+".
This refers to the clarifications regarding the Georgian parliament's changes in the "Civil Code", which set restrictions on privileges reserved for four religious communities, including the Armenian Apostolic Church.
He recalled that during the visit of the Catholicos of All Armenians to Georgia in June, the Catholicos had discussed the return of at least six Armenian churches in Tbilisi and the St. Nshan Church in Akhaltskha. "It turns out that that issue remained unsolved. After the Georgian parliament's change, it is up to the Georgian Orthodox Church to determine what will happen to the Armenian churches."
According to Mr. Torosyan, Armenian-Georgian relations are currently two-layered. "The first are official relations that both sides assess as high-level relations. The second layer is the incident connected to the Armenian churches. The same goes for the spiritual, cultural and educational spheres."
According to ANC member, diplomat Vladimir Karapetyan, Armenian-Georgian relations are regressing in all spheres. "I regret to see those relations at a very low level."
Karapetyan considers the Georgian parliament's clarifications compensation to Armenia. "Armenia was among the few countries that voted against Georgia's initiative to organize the return of refugees in the UN. In such cases, Georgia has always stayed neutral when it came to issues concerning Armenia. The Armenian delegation's vote against Georgia's initiative in the UN had a negative impact on Armenian-Georgian relations."
In this context, he also views the fact that for the first time, the President of Georgia didn't receive the RA Foreign Minister on the latter's visit to the country. "Armenian-Georgian relations are deteriorating. I think Armenia has to take serious steps at the state level to fix those relations."
