Samtskhe-Javakheti May Suffer Same Fate as Nakhichevan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgia will soon adopt a law on return of Turk Meskhetians there, from where they were deported in 1944. EU allocates 2 billion euros to Georgia for resettling Turk Meskhetians. As historian Haykazun Alvrtsyan stated in a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the law will make additional problems for Georgia's Samtskhe-Javakheti region mostly populated by Armenians, where Turk Meskhetians are to be resettled. «Javakheti becomes a barrier on the way of pan-Turkism both in economic and political respects. The Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway, the inflow of Georgian population to Akhaltsikh, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline - all of these make Armenians leave their native localities. If no measures are taken to prevent migration, Javakheti may suffer the fate of Nakhichevan,» he said.



In historian's words, Armenians of the region are not going to secede from Georgia and merely demand autonomy. «This is the only way we will be able to preserve our culture and identity. The Javakheti issue is a matter of national security to Armenia, as the shortest way to Russia and Europe is through it. If Armenians leave the region, Armenia, surrounded by hostile states, will find itself fully isolated,» Alvrtsyan believes.