Who stands behind the new anti-Armenian provocations in Abkhazia?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two bombs exploded in the Sukhumi Armenian school after Hovhannes Tumanyan. The explosives were put in one of the classrooms and at the pedestal of H. Tumanyan's monument in the schoolyard. The whole territory of the schoolyard was scattered with anti-Armenian leaflets in Russian language. The fact that no one was injured can rightly be called a miracle, since the explosions were quite powerful and smashed the windows of not only the school, but also of neighboring houses. Criminal investigation of the incident has not yet brought any results. The situation cannot but alarm the Armenian community members who are facing such provocations not for the first time.
The meeting at the President's residence was initiated by the Armenian community. Sergey Bagabsh invited almost the whole staff of the Security Council, the parliament speaker, the head of the government and leaders of force structures. The position of Armenian community concerning the incidents was stated by the cochairmen of the Armenian community council Marietta Topchyan and Khachik Minosyan. They demanded from republic leaders to prevent the repetition of anti-Armenian provocations. It is noteworthy that in his speech Sergey Bagabsh indirectly admitted that authorities had really been not attentive enough to the problems of Abkhazian Armenians. "Among numerous problems, tackled by the authorities of the country, we did not focus enough on the problems of Armenian community. But the government and the parliament make every effort to overcome most of those problems", Bagabsh said. The meeting also became a good occasion for raising the issue of the social condition in Armenian villages. Bagabsh assured that the government would manage to implement the whole complex of planned actions for the rehabilitation of Armenian Labra, Arakich and Atara villages. The President informed about the intension to create a Public Chamber, which will deal with the solution of issues concerning national politics.
Who could benefit from the incident that took place in Hovhannes Tumanyan School? Whether it be internal or external forces, it is pretty obvious that the aim of the organizers is to provoke conflict between Armenians and Abkhazians. Abkhazian Armenians have been an object of political speculations for more than a year. Georgians accuse them of supporting Abkhazians and Abkhazians on their turn accuse Armenians of supporting Georgians. This is why in Sukhumi they are more inclined to see the role of Georgian special services in the incident. This version can look quite convincing if we take into account the fact that several attempts have already been made in Tbilisi to provoke Abkhazian-Armenian clashes. In May 2005 Georgian papers wrote that Armenians of Sukhumi had organized actions of protest against the politics of the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia. It was reported that the participants of the rally held the portraits of Michael Saakashvili with "Michael, reconcile us!" slogans. According to Georgian sources, 16 participants of the action were arrested. Last year Georgian mass media informed that Armenians of Abkhazia were creating a "Liberation Committee" for defending against Abkhazian terror. All of that is of course a lie. In summer 2004 Georgian "Rustavi-2" TV channel reported that Georgian special services successfully accomplished the operation of "rescuing" Armenian worker Ashot Hambardzumyan who was said to be exploited in Abkhazia like a slave and worked free of charge on a construction. The TV channel even showed his interview. However, it is noteworthy that after the interview Hambardzumyan did not return to Armenia and his relatives were extremely astonished at his interview because he had never told them things like that.
Unfortunately, sometimes Abkhazian authorities also create grounds for the successful propaganda of international strife. The thing is that the large and once influential Armenian community of Abkhazia today has no mechanisms of participation in the social-political life of Abkhazia. Meanwhile, in Soviet times the Armenian population of the autonomy was practically equal to the Abkhazian population. If the leaders of the unrecognized republic really want to build civil society it is unclear why they are artificially pushing aside Armenians from the administration process. There is not a single representative of Armenian community in the government of the republic. It also quite difficult for Abkhazian Armenians to make their way to serious business. Many Armenian-populated villages do not have elementary facilities.
All of that promotes flow-out of Armenian population to Krasnodar Territory of Russia. Even so, Armenian emigrants living in Kuban all the same feel themselves citizens of Abkhazia and do not refuse the intension to return to their motherland. This was proved during the last presidential elections where Sergey Bagabsh was strongly supported not only by Abkhazian Armenians, but also by their compatriots in Sochi and other regions of Krasnodar Territory. Hopes, which Armenians pinned on the new government, have not come true yet. However the self-criticism of the Abkhazian President during the meeting with the leadership of Armenian community gives grounds to believe that the authorities of Abkhazian Republic will find ways to return the trust of the largest ethnic minority.