YEREVAN. – The representative body of Georgia’s—primarily Armenian-populated—Akhalkalaki city decided to petition to the country’s authorities, with a request to grant Armenian the status of a regional language, Javakhk Patriotic Union Chairman and Armenia’s ruling Republican Party MP Shirak Torosyan stated during a press conference on Thursday. 

Giving an overall positive assessment to this initiative, Torosyan, however, pointed to the “underwater ledges” of this development. The thing is that the aforesaid body was formed by the pressure of the staff of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. 

“How is it that this body [now] appears in the other camp? This will give [Georgian] PM Bidzina Ivanishvili an opportunity to scold in order to support the nationalist movements in the region. That is, this matter helps exacerbate the situation in the region,” Torosyan said.  

In his view, granting Armenian the status of a regional language is in Georgia’s interests, since this is also in line with the European approach. But, as per Torosyan, it should be taken into consideration that in Javakhk—Georgian name: Javakheti, is a predominantly-Armenian-populated part of Georgia’s southeastern Samtskhe-Javakheti Province—Saakashvili conducted a policy that was dictated by the Azerbaijani-Turkish influence.

The Armenian MP also stressed that there is no separatism in Javakhk. 

“That is a political slander by the former [Georgian] authorities. They spoke about separatism to apply pressure, to carry out the Azerbaijani-Turkish plans. We must give Bidzina Ivanishvili a chance to fulfill his promises with respect to Georgia and Javakhk alike,” Shirak Torosyan concluded.