CREEPING ARMENIZATION

The capture by border guards and operatives of the Armenian National Security Service of a Georgian citizen, a resident of the village of Burma-Tazakand in Marneuli District, Allahverdi Palangov, has uncovered a fairly serious problem - that of the Georgian-Armenian border area which is populated mainly by ethnic Azerbaijanis. In Georgia they prefer to keep silent about this problem so as not to exacerbate relations with Yerevan, and the result is that it is the people of this country - Azerbaijanis - who are suffering. The writer of this article who, at the invitation of a group of residents from Azerbaijani-populated villages on the border with Armenia, set off for Burma-Tazakand to find out about the situation at first hand, was able to satisfy himself of this personally.

The line of the Georgian-Armenian border in this area winds deep into Armenia like an "appendix", and the Georgian villages, which are populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, find themselves squeezed in from east and west by Armenia. The border has still not been defined because work on its delimitation and demarcation is far from completed. However, for many years the Armenians have been arbitrarily moving the border deep into Georgian territory. And on their path lie the Azerbaijani-populated villages of Marneuli and Dmanisi Districts in Georgia, specifically Baytarabchi, Tazakand, Burma-Tazakand, Sadakhli, Mollaoglu, Khuldara, Yirganchay, and others.

The village of Burma-Tazakand is situated close to the Georgian-Armenian customs post and is irrefutable proof of the creeping Armenization of Georgia's border territory. According to local residents, whereas 10 years ago the Georgian-Armenian border line ran along a small roughly kilometre-long upland, today it runs through the village, cutting off four homes whose inhabitants are Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani nationality - to all intents and purposes outlawed. The Armenian border guards say openly to the residents of the houses who have found themselves on "Armenian territory": "Take Armenian citizenship or get out." Otherwise, the Armenians say, criminal proceedings will be taken against these four families for violating the state border of the Armenian Republic. At the same time, the arguments of the villagers that they and their forefathers have lived in this area for centuries and that this part of the Georgian-Armenian border is still subject to demarcation and delimitation have failed to convince the Armenians at all.  Moreover, vast grazing land which the Georgian Azerbaijanis have not been allowed onto is now under the control of the Armenian border officials. The result is that the villagers have had to slaughter their livestock…

The absence of a Georgian-Armenian border as such hides another danger - it allows the Armenian border and National Security officials, saboteurs and criminal gangs to infiltrate unhindered not only to Burma-Tazakand, but the whole of the Georgian border area, which is populated primarily by ethnic Azerbaijanis. And not just infiltrate, but also commit crimes.  The most widespread crimes committed by the Armenians on the Georgian-Armenian border are the abduction and seizure of Azerbaijanis who are only released after accepting a bribe, and also cattle rustling.

On certain sections of the Georgian-Armenian border which the Armenians have pushed deep into Georgian territory are the arable lands of the Azerbaijanis. For example, in the village of Baytarabchi in Marneuli District the Armenian border guards seized over 150 hectares of land and took control of natural water sources and reservoirs. As a result, the villagers will not be able to work their land and grow their own produce, which is the basic source of their existence. And over 500 Armenian citizens, who are taking advantage of land which yesterday was Georgian, have already settled in the "liberated" territories.

It cannot be said that the people who have found themselves in this desperate situation have kept silent. No, they have turned to the Georgian government, the president and parliament, but so far have had no real help. Some Georgian government institutions have even started accusing the Azerbaijanis of artificially aggravating the situation and making up stories. But not a single official in Tbilisi can be bothered to go to the area and see for himself what is happening.

When one analyses the situation one cannot help recalling an incident last year concerning the Keshikchidag monastery complex, which the Georgians call David Gareja, which is situated on Azerbaijani territory. The incident was relevant in the process of the delimitation and demarcation of the section of the Azerbaijani-Georgian border in which this unique memorial to Albanian culture lies. At the time the Georgians had taken up an unyielding stance in this question and patently anti-Azerbaijani articles began to appear one after the other in the Georgian media. Things reached a point where a Georgian MP, Jondi Bagaturia, even called for a march to be organized to the Georgian-Azerbaijani border to lodge a resolute protest to Azerbaijan. But the neighbours overlooked the fact that there has still been no process of the delimitation and demarcation of the state border between Georgia and Azerbaijan, and therefore any actions of this sort and categorical claims about territories having become the subject of discussion would harm the negotiations. Some people in neighbouring Georgia were prepared to quarrel with Azerbaijan, their strategic partner.  It was only after the personal intervention of the Azerbaijani and Georgian presidents that the border incident, which flared up completely at the drop of a hat, was finally resolved.

In the case with the Keshikchidag monastery complex, these forces in Georgia were almost ready to go to war with Azerbaijan, whilst the creeping Armenization of the Georgian-Armenian border area populated primarily by Azerbaijanis demonstrates their blatant lack of concern.

According to the well-known Georgian human-rights activist and head of the human-rights monitoring group of ethnic minorities (MRMG), Elbrus Mammadov, an inter-governmental mission for the delimitation and demarcation of the Georgian-Armenian border, which was 224km long, was set up back in 1995. At that time an agreement had been reached only in relation to 160km. As far as the remaining section of the border is concerned, the commission continues to meet, but there is no time limit to this process, and consequently no-one yet knows when the demarcation will be completed.

Mammadov pointed out that the residents of the Azerbaijani-populated villages bordering on Armenia have for many years been subjected to pressure by the Armenian border guards. People are being intimidated and illegally arrested, their livestock has been stolen and they are not allowed on pastures and land on which, incidentally, they must pay taxes.

"In taking advantage of the absence of a real border, the Armenians have for many years been arbitrarily pushing the border line deep into Georgian territory and squeezing out the Azerbaijani population. And Armenian residents have been settling in these 'acquired' territories. We are always talking about the problem at meetings with the Georgian authorities, and they say that this section of the border has still not passed through the delimitation and demarcation process. However, this doesn't stop Armenia building border posts and barracks along the whole length of the Armenian-Georgian border. And it is not just we who are pointing this out, but also many leading Georgian public figures and journalists are regularly talking about this. But it has all been in vain. The Armenian border guards are rustling cattle that belong to the Azerbaijanis, taking residents of Azerbaijani villages as prisoners, shooting at them from Armenian border posts, arbitrarily setting up border stations and seizing the crop areas, pastureland and homes of the Azerbaijanis. The absence of a real border between Georgia and Armenia in this area and the lack of border security from the Georgian side at certain sections of the border leaves the Azerbaijanis who live there defenceless against the Armenian armed border guards.

Unfortunately, there has been no reaction from the Georgian central authorities over this question. As a result, the local Azerbaijani population feels unprotected on its own territory," Mammadov said.

To sum up, for many years now the Georgian-Armenian border can hardly be called peaceful. The situation here is neither one of war nor peace, but it is perfectly obvious that Armenia is shifting the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy-Karabakh to the Azerbaijani-populated territory of Georgia. It is the Azerbaijanis - peaceful residents of the Georgian-Armenian border area: farmers, shepherds, ordinary people who have lived in the border villages for centuries - who are suffering from the actions of the Armenian border guards and special services. And this situation will continue until Georgia completes the demarcation and delimitation of the Georgian-Armenian border.