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The Armenian Reporter | March 28, 2009 19
Commentary
The issue of Javakhk is both political and national
Arrests aim to intimidate
Armenians
by Tatul Hakobyan
YEREVAN – Several issues are raised by
the decision of the Tbilisi authorities to release
on bail two Armenian activists from
Akhaltsikhe, Georgia, Grigor Minasian and
Sarkis Hakobjanian, who were accused of
forming an illegal armed group and spying.
Both Georgian-Armenians who are accused
of this serious crime are well known and
active individuals in Samtskhe-Javakheti.
Grigor Minasian is now a former youth
center director and Sarkis Hakobjanian
heads a charity.
The question remains: how accurate are the
claims that they committed a serious crime
such as spying? Regardless of what the two
Armenians said during the investigation,
the accusations have not been tried in open
court.
If Mr. Minasian and Mr. Hakobjanian have
spied, which is a betrayal of their country,
how come the judicial system of Georgia was
so mild, and after keeping them behind bars
for only six weeks allowed them out on bail
for the symbolic amount of 2000 laries? In
Armenia, as in Georgia, there have been several
cases with accusations of spying over the
past few years. In none of these cases, however,
were the accused allowed out on bail.
They were put behind bars for many years.
Have Mr. Minasian and Mr. Hakobjanian
been threatened during the investigation?
Nino Andriashvili, the now former lawyer
of the two Armenians, has announced that
they have pleaded guilty of spying while under
pressure. Have the power structures of
Georgia threatened Mr. Minasian and Mr.
Hakobjanian that their families would be in
danger if they did not plead guilty? It is more
incomprehensible when one of the conditions
of bail for the two was that they should
not talk to the media.
What is ALAP?
As long as Mr. Minasian and Mr. Hakobjanian
are not talking, it is hard to completely
understand the reasons behind their arrest.
Those in the international media who have
written about this case have drawn attention
towards a NGO called Association for Legal
Assistance to the Population, ALAP.
Ms. Andriashvili has said that Mr. Minasian
and Mr. Hakobjanian had discussed
by Armen Hakobyan
YEREVAN – One alliance and six political
parties have submitted their lists of candidates
for the 65 seats on the Yerevan City
Council to the Central Electoral Commission
(CEC). The election is slated for May 31.
The biggest surprise by far was the announcement
made by the Heritage Party,
founded by Raffi Hovannisian, the only opposition
party in parliament, that they have
decided not to run in the election.
The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) is
running 180 candidates for the 65 seats. (If
someone declines to take a seat in the council
or later resigns, the next person on the list
takes the vacant seat. Thus the large number
of candidates.) The top slot – reserved for
the party’s choice for mayor – is occupied by
Gagik Beglarian, who is the current mayor.
The Armenian National Congress is running
167 candidates, with former president Levon
Ter-Petrossian in the lead spot. The Prosperous
Armenia Party has 122 candidates, led by
Health Minister Harutyun Kushkian. The
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) is
running 51 candidates, with member of parliament
Artsvik Minasian in the lead spot. The
Country of Laws Party has nominated member
of parliament Heghine Bisharian to head up
their list of 74 candidates. Tigran Karapetian
of the People’s Party leads his party’s list
of 20 candidates. And the Armenian Labor-
Socialist Party, with Movses Shahverdian in
the lead, proposes 29 candidates.
forming an armed group with the Tbilisi
leader of ALAP and the discussions had been
secretly videotaped. It is obvious that the
taping was implemented either by the Georgian
Special Services or by the representatives
of ALAP who then handed it over to
the Georgian Special Services. It is also not
certain so far whether Mr. Minasian and Mr.
Hakobjanian were arrested and accused because
of questionnaires distributed by ALAP
and completed by Mr. Minasian.
Citing Ms. Andriashvili, Georgian and international
media insist that ALAP is a Belorussian
organization supported by Russian
special services. According to another point
of view, Georgian Special Forces themselves
established ALAP in order to monitor the
loyalty of certain Armenian circles toward
Georgia.
The method utilized by ALAP is very specific
to special services. And so, for only a couple
of months, ALAP opened its office and started
aggressive and energetic activity in the center
of Tbilisi, adjacent to Rustavelli Street, where
the Georgian Justice Ministry is located. In
autumn, ALAP uploaded a questionnaire
about Samtskhe-Javakheti on its website,
which no longer exists (the office of the organization
has closed, the phones are dead, and
e-mails are not answered), and promises to
pay $300 to those who complete it.
OSCE correspondent Taguhi Vardanian,
the head of the Union of the Salvation of the
Soul NGO in Ninotsmida, which is 98 percent
Armenian populated, is one of those who
completed the questionnaire and received
$300. While talking to us she said that the
questions on the questionnaire were very ordinary
and in order to confirm that, she read
them one by one.
“Grigor and I completed the questionnaire
and went to Tbilisi together and presented
it to the ALAP office. There were some Georgians
in their office who said that their headquarters
were in Minsk. We met their representative,
Vadim Abdulov. Just like all
those who completed the questionnaire, we
also received $300,” said Ms. Vardanian.
Even though the international media has
said that the questions on the questionnaire
had not been ordinary and had been sensitive,
one does not feel anything unusual
when reading them. These are truly ordinary
questions about Samtskhe-Javakheti. Similar
questions and detailed answers can be
found on the Internet. The unusual thing
here is that those completing the questionnaire
received monetary remuneration.
If ALAP was truly created by the Russian
Special Services and the two Armenians were
Overall 643 candidates have been nominated
to fill the 65 available seats of the city
council. Since the Armenian National Congress
is participating as an alliance of parties,
it has to get no less than 9 percent of the vote
to be represented at City Hall. For the six
parties running individually, the threshold
is 7 percent.
arrested and accused of spying because of
their cooperation with the representatives of
that organization, then why have none of the
employees of ALAP been arrested? This very
circumstance makes one suspect that ALAP
is a fake organization and that the Georgian
Special Services are behind it.
The general condition in
Samtskhe-Javakheti
The accusation of a serious crime by two Armenians
must be observed on a deeper level:
the issue of Samtskhe-Javakheti. Despite
the insistence of the Georgian and Armenian
authorities that the issues connected with
the Armenians of Samtskhe-Javakheti are
socioeconomic, people aware of that region
understand that the issue first of all is political
and national.
From time to time Armenians who are active
in trying to preserve the Armenian identity
of Samtskhe-Javakheti by their activities
have issues with the judicial system of Georgia.
The future of the friendly relations of
the Javakheti Armenians, as well as those
between Armenia and Georgia, depend upon
the issues in that region.
A few days ago an announcement disseminated
by some Armenian organizations
Heritage Party stays out of Yerevan city elections
Levon Ter-Petrossian (l.) and Raffi Hovannisian. Photo: Photolure.
Akhalkalaki, Georgia. Photo: Photolure.
in Akhalkalaki noted issues relating to the
preservation of national identity, as well as
political, spiritual-cultural, educational, and
socioeconomic issues. The issues are being
discussed continually; however, no steps are
being taken and Armenian-Georgian highlevel
meetings end with empty toasts to the
friendly past and present of the two nations.
Norik Karapetian is a leader of Akhalkalaki’s
Javakhk Movement. “It is without any
doubt that their case is politically motivated.
They are the most active members of the
Akhaltsikhe Armenian community. By doing
so the Georgian authorities are attempting
to suppress the Armenian spirit,” Mr. Karapetian
said.
Girgor Minasian and Sarkis Hakobjanian
are amongst the most active Armenians in
Akhaltsikhe and the Armenians of Javakheti
comprehend their arrest and accusations of
serious crimes, regardless of other details,
differently. The Armenians of Georgia are
justifiably concerned that with these arrests
an attempt is being made to crush the spirit
of the Armenians. Another arrest, this time
in Akhalkalaki, came before the arrest of Mr.
Minasian and Mr. Hakobjanian. Vahagn
Chakhalian, one of the active Armenians
in Akhalkalaki is under arrest for absurd and
trumped up charges.
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The election campaign will formally begin
on May 2 and end on midnight May 29. The
elections will take place on May 31 from 8
a.m. to 8 p.m.
On March 23, Heritage announced with
regret, “that it was impossible to reach
an [agreement] with the Armenian National
Congress” on a joint list of candidates.
The announcement sought to draw
parallels between the government and
Mr. Ter-Petrossian’s opposition alliance. It
first condemned “the authorities’ limitations
put on the freedom of speech and
the ongoing firm establishment of an environment
of intolerance, the ‘instructed’
and unsubstantiated accusations against
Heritage and its founder Raffi K. Hovannisian
disseminated over the years by the
media that serve the ruling administration,
the deluge of lies and disinformation
which periodically grows worse especially
before elections.” It then noted “certain
oppositional media’s attempts to imitate
the aforesaid defective mode of operation
in the recent week and doing this with the
silent support by the [Armenian National
Congress].”
According to the Heritage announcement,
if two opposition entities run in the election,
“the ensuing clash will be inevitable even in
the case of exerting the greatest of efforts to
prevent it, and the victims will be the whole
opposition and the entire people.”
Some supporters of the Armenian National
Congress are calling on the Heritage Party to
cede its seats on the electoral commissions to
the Congress. Each party in parliament is entitled
to a seat on the Central Electoral Commission
and regional and local commissions.
Meanwhile, Mr. Beglarian, the mayor, has
decided to improve conditions – especially
landscaping and illumination – in the courtyards
of the city. For this purpose seeds have
been specially brought in from the Netherlands.
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