Georgian authorities implement a policy of 'cleansing Armenians by hands of Armenians' – Shirak Torosyan

The policy of cleansing the Armenians from the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti still continues, MP Shirak Torosyan, who is also the head of the Javakhq union, has said.

But the bad thing about it is that the Georgian authorities implement that policy with the help of Armenians serving in municipal authorities.

According to Torosyan, currently the situation in Georgia reminds of the regime ruled by Joseph Stalin and Lavrenti Beria. As a result, dozens of Armenian activists have left Javakhk because of their political views.

Though both Armenia and Georgia make statements about strengthening the friendship between the two countries, there is actually no progress, he added.

"The border issue continues to be strained. If it used to be tense at the Bavra checkpoint only, this year some serious problems occurred due to the illegal actions by the law enforcement bodies at the checkpoints in the regions of Tavush and Lori," Torosyan said at a press conference today.

He went on saying that this year the Georgian authorities sharply cut the Armenian language classes at schools. Instead, they have added the Georgian language classes.

"Georgian should be learned at the expense of Georgian rather than of Armenian. The Armenian children start to obtain a Georgian mindset at Georgian schools, which is a blatant violation of international norms," said he.

Torosyan also said that on instructions from the Georgian authorities many teachers of the Armenian language and history – among them also Torosyan's parents – were expelled from schools in Javakhk this year.

"The policy by the Georgian authorities is not an accident," said he, adding that it pursues specific goals – to depopulate Armenians from Javakhk.

To prove his point, Torosyan recalled a statement by Georgia's Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze who, in response to a question by an Armenian reporter about Javakhk, had said "I don't know what Javakhk is. No such place exists on the map."