May 15, 2002 - 23:26 AMT
TURK-MESKHETIANS SECRETLY POPULATING JAVAKHETIA
"A-info" information agency operating in Samtskhe-Javakhetia Georgian province populated by Armenians reports referring to informed sources that 17 Turk-Meskhetian families have settled in the district center of Akhaltsikhe within last year. Each family comprises 40 persons on average. The source possesses data that the houses were purchased from Armenians from the accounts of special funds. The migrants are registered as Georgians in official documents and have Georgian surnames. Let us remind that the Georgian leadership has repeatedly come out with statements that in the course of the coming ten years the Turk-Meskhetians will not return to Javakhetia, as it is contrary to the interests of the Georgian state and is pregnant with problems to do with national security.