Georgian President, PM at odds over Armenian language

March 18, 2013 - 14:21 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tbilisi is facing a new bout of political tensions amid Georgian Armenians’ demands for urgent ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

President Mikheil Saakashvili, who still has strained relations with a parliamentary majority leader Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, took a hostile stance on the demand, citing a threat to national security. He further accused his opponents with fostering Armenian nationalism, Georgia Online reported.

The charter ratification urge was voiced in Samtskhe Javakheti's Akhalkalaki region, home to a predominantly Armenian population. "We insist that the parliament ratify the Charter which Georgia joined to in 1999," the head of local parliament Hamlet Movsisyan stressed. The initiative was authored by the members of Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition.

As the state minister for reintegration noted, in 1999, Saakashvili was the one who lobbied Georgia’s ratification of the document. "Saakashvili explained his actions by the intention to expedite Georgia's accession to the Council of Europe. He was so set on overtaking Armenia and Azerbaijan that he never thought of repercussions," Paata Zakareishvili said.