Georgia will never go against Armenia

During those four and a half years, i.e., since January of 2003, a lot of things have changed in Georgia, I would even say country changes constantly. But people began to think if those constant changes are always good, after all not always everything goes for better. A lot of hasty steps were made during those 4 years. However we continue to move forward. It's also true that Mikhail Saakashvili is so unpredictable that we sometimes do not know what he will do tomorrow. But one think I can say for sure: Georgia will never go against Armenia and any country in the region generally. Economically we participate in joint projects with Azerbaijan and Turkey, but culturally and religiously we are connected with Armenia. Georgia will never be in an alliance with Muslim countries against Christian country. Don't forget Kars-Tbilisi-Baku and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan projects are American projects, and Georgia must participate in those projects since the foreign policy of our President demands it.

Relations between Georgia and Russia have never been too good. Now Russia tries to do a bad turn to Georgia on the quiet and instead of honestly establishing relations, for some reasons Russians choose secret ways. And we too blame Russia for all our misfortunes thinking of her as the main author. Of course, it is not so. But just recall the story with intelligence officers. Saakashvili catch at that excuse to show the West his anti-Russian sentiments. The problem of Eduard Shevarnadze, whose name "cunning fox" is not in vain, is in the fact that he used to play with everyone - both with Russia and the West. Saakashvili decided to stake on the West and now we have a situation, when Georgia is the most democratic country in the region for the U.S. However this is very bad for the states in the region, there is no balance here.

Our conflicts have very little opportunities for separatism. Yes, there is something similar between Kosovo and Abkhazia but there are more differences here. Really, if Pristina wants to declare independence, she will do it without asking anyone. The same concerns all conflict zones. But if we compare the Kosovo conflict with the "frozen conflicts" in CIS, look what we will see. There are 2 million Albanians in Kosovo and very few Serbian. And in Abkhazia the native population is half as much than the two main nations - Armenians and Georgians. And one more thing, which is very important: Albania supports Kosovo, Armenia - the Nagorno Karabakh, but nobody backs Abkhazia. Russia is out, it has its interests there. The Kosovo variant may be used for Nagorno Karabakh, but it is a very long process - settlement of all conflicts. As to the South Ossetia, this case is much difficult. There exists North Ossetia, which has pro-Russian stance, and Tbilisi has normal relations with Vladikavkaz, two main roads via North Ossetia - the Rokski pass and "Verkhni Lars" - join the South Caucasus with Russia.

Let's first of all say that Meskhetians' desire to resettle in Georgia is too exaggerated. According to the latest information, there are 130 000 Turk-Meskhetians residing in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries, only 20 000 of which want to return. Note a lot of them do not want to leave from a Muslim country and reside in a Christian one -Georgia. They'd rather go to Turkey. It is not expected a mass settlement by Turk-Meskhetians in Samtskhe-Javakheti, no Georgia government will initiate such a stem. Most likely Armenians and Georgians of Javakhk will join against Meskhetians.

Georgia still does not feel herself as a state and that's why there exists a policy of self-affirmation, which supposes nationalism. Generally it exists on everyday level, but Georgians need an image of enemy and Armenians became such an image. But the matter is not in Armenians, the matter is in Georgians themselves, in Georgian mentality. They treat bad Azeris too. It's true that now nobody speaks like the times when Gamsakhurdia was the president of the country, "Georgia for Georgians", but still some traces of those times remain. Only the Georgian government is guilty in the Javakhk problem. I think there is nothing dangareos than granting autonomy, including Javakhk. The notion of "autonomy" supposes only self-government.

And that's why we should not forget that the Georgian society suffers from phobia towards autonomies, which is quite explainable taking into account separated autonomies of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We view all steps taken by Armenians of Javakhk towards receiving autonomy as efforts for full separation, but this is not the case. The cause of phobia is in the reason that we do not know each other. We must seat and discuss what Armenians of Javakhk want and what Georgia can offer them.