IF STALIN WERE NOT GEORGIAN
Azerbaijan continues to raise territorial claims to Georgia.
In the end of last year the next round of Azerbaijani-Georgian negotiations dedicated to demarcation and delimitation of the state border were held. Judging from publications of the Tbilisi press, the dialogue did not have any results. Azerbaijan continues to lay territorial claims to its neighboring country.
The disputes about belonging of several bordering villages started long before the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the beginning of the last century, when leaders of the Tyurks living in the Western part of Transcaucasus proclaimed the independent Azerbaijani Democratic Republic and announced their rights on the Georgian lands. The Musavatists were raising claims also on Karabakh, Zangezur, Nakhichevan, Northern-East of Iran and Southern regions of Dagestan. Thanks to the support of Ankara and Moscow, leaders of Baku managed to fulfill part of their aggressive plans. Who knows, what the Eastern Georgia would be like now, if Stalin were not a Georgian.
After gaining independence, the claims of the official Baku to the neighboring countries started again. Azerbaijan occupied 15% of the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, took the enclave of Artsvashen, which was a sovereign territory of Armenia, intervened openly in the internal affairs of Iran, strengthening its presence in Iran's Northern provinces populated with Tyurks. Despite the Azerbaijani-Georgian brotherhood, being demonstrated every now and then, Tbilisi has also received a surprise from Azerbaijan: territorial claims.
Azerbaijan claims on series of villages of Signakh and Marneuli regions as well as on a big territory near the Red Bridge. During numerous negotiations between the official representatives of Georgia and Azerbaijan about demarcation of the state border, the matter most often concerned the village of Eris Imedi populated mainly with Georgians. According to the governor of Kakhetia Bendzini Songulashvili, it is already thousand years that this ancient village is a part of Georgia.
We shall note that not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Marneuli and Gardabani, Georgian regions populated mainly with Azerbaijanis, they speak about the necessity of being separated from Georgia. In this respect, one of the leaders of Georgian Azerbaijanis, Alibali Askerov, made recently an interesting statement: in an interview with Baku journalists he was assuring that the territory of the village of Kirach-Mouganly should belong to Azerbaijan. Such an open propaganda of separatism represents a serious threat to the national security of Georgia. Understanding this, the measures undertaken by official Tbilisi for neutralization of the “fifth column” operating in the Western regions of the country may be rather useful.
It will not be easy for the Georgian leaders to remove this “fifth column” and prevent the claims from the East. Because in any dialogue Azerbaijan uses its beloved argument: the construction of Baku-Jeyhan oil pipeline through the territory of Georgia. Georgians have not received even a cent from this project up to now. At the same time, the dependence of Georgian leaders from the authorities of the neighboring countries increases. This pipeline has become a tool for making pressure on Georgia, which seems to be inhabited to the role of a state which can be dictated what to do. It is known that during the last round of negotiations about demarcation of the state border, the subject of the oil pipeline has raised several times. However, in Georgia there are lots of politicians able to stop the attempts of linking the discussions of energy cooperation with the subject of territorial concessions.
After gaining independence, the claims of the official Baku to the neighboring countries started again. Azerbaijan occupied 15% of the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, took the enclave of Artsvashen, which was a sovereign territory of Armenia, intervened openly in the internal affairs of Iran, strengthening its presence in Iran's Northern provinces populated with Tyurks. Despite the Azerbaijani-Georgian brotherhood, being demonstrated every now and then, Tbilisi has also received a surprise from Azerbaijan: territorial claims.
Azerbaijan claims on series of villages of Signakh and Marneuli regions as well as on a big territory near the Red Bridge. During numerous negotiations between the official representatives of Georgia and Azerbaijan about demarcation of the state border, the matter most often concerned the village of Eris Imedi populated mainly with Georgians. According to the governor of Kakhetia Bendzini Songulashvili, it is already thousand years that this ancient village is a part of Georgia.
We shall note that not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Marneuli and Gardabani, Georgian regions populated mainly with Azerbaijanis, they speak about the necessity of being separated from Georgia. In this respect, one of the leaders of Georgian Azerbaijanis, Alibali Askerov, made recently an interesting statement: in an interview with Baku journalists he was assuring that the territory of the village of Kirach-Mouganly should belong to Azerbaijan. Such an open propaganda of separatism represents a serious threat to the national security of Georgia. Understanding this, the measures undertaken by official Tbilisi for neutralization of the “fifth column” operating in the Western regions of the country may be rather useful.
It will not be easy for the Georgian leaders to remove this “fifth column” and prevent the claims from the East. Because in any dialogue Azerbaijan uses its beloved argument: the construction of Baku-Jeyhan oil pipeline through the territory of Georgia. Georgians have not received even a cent from this project up to now. At the same time, the dependence of Georgian leaders from the authorities of the neighboring countries increases. This pipeline has become a tool for making pressure on Georgia, which seems to be inhabited to the role of a state which can be dictated what to do. It is known that during the last round of negotiations about demarcation of the state border, the subject of the oil pipeline has raised several times. However, in Georgia there are lots of politicians able to stop the attempts of linking the discussions of energy cooperation with the subject of territorial concessions.
