By Victoria Panfilova, a columnist of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Residents of the village of Kirnati in Adjara have recently discovered that part of Georgia's territory has somehow been taken over by Turkey. Farmers going to work on fields were stopped by Turkish border guards with dogs. The border guards shocked them by saying that they were working on Turkish land and were asked to leave.
The villagers started searching for the truth from local authorities, but to no avail. In one case they were given no answer, in another they were recommended to ask Tbilisi, in a third case they were accused of illegal border-crossing. To top it all, a Georgian TV channel made a report where the villagers were almost depicted as provokers of a border conflict with the friendly Turkish state. The story has spread throughout the mass media ever since.
A low-budget company Obyektiv has found out what was really going on in Kirnati. The arrival of journalists and public figures in the small village animated the local population. “Our ancestors have been cultivating these fields for ages. I have been working on them all my life and now it turns out that we have been plowing and sowing on Turkish land?!” one of them said. Another villager was outraged: “A hundred of people saw how Turkish border guards with dogs came from that side and ordered us to leave. Our government is trying to convince us that it never happened. Has everyone in Kirnati been seeing the same dream?!”
The situation at the village near to the border is exceptionally desperate. Losing lands for growing corn, potatoes and other agricultural products, villagers were basically deprived of food. Moreover, there is no work other than agriculture left for them to do. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the part of the fields the Turks do not claim to own have been flooded because of a hydroelectric plant under construction. What can a farmer do without land? Nothing. The prospects of Kirnati's residents will seem absolutely gloomy, if the version of the public figure visiting the place together with journalists of Obyektiv turns out to be true.
According to the man, he is well aware that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili gave the Kirnati fields away to Turkey for the ludicrously low price of 1 lari before losing the elections. He claims there is a document, a copy of which he promised to find and show to prove the anti-national policy of the old government. It is hard to understand or even imagine what Mikheil Saakashvili wanted to gain from donating hectares of lands to Turkey. The motives for such unprecedented generosity, if there really were any, cannot be comprehended either. Georgian public officials say that it is true. Their logic is simple: Turkish border guards could not have all gone out of their minds, to cross the border and drive Georgian farmers off their lands without reason. The Georgian Dream coalition is either silent about the problem or blames the Kirnati population, supposedly trying not to escalate tensions with Ankara.
“Georgia has no unneeded land to lose or give away. The country will stop developing if the pain of Kirnati's residents is not shared by the nation,” Obyektiv Head Irma Inashvili said on Facebook. She added there that she had talked with Zurab Gamezardashvili, the head of the State Border Service, about the problem. The official confirmed the information about the conflict, although he neglected the fact that Turkish border guards had crossed the border and driven farmers off.
Experts say that nothing can be done about the land if there is a treaty ceding the lands, and there seems to exist such a treaty, otherwise the neighbours would not act in such a way. Some public officials of Georgia are less skeptical. “We just need to break the persistence of our government that refuses to anything about the repercussions of their predecessors’ schemes. The situation changes, we will make them resolve the land problem of Kirnati. A few days ago they acted as though they could not understand what we were talking about. Then they started blaming the farmers. Now they are gradually admitting that the Turkish border guards crossed the border. The tendency is evident, so we will continue attaining further changes in their position,” they say. According to Vestnik Kavkaza, the Georgian public is forming a group to coordinate the issue, check whether a similar story can occur in other areas of the country close to borders. Georgia has borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. There are small land lots disputed with all of them. Delimitation and demarcation of the lands has been ongoing for years and the processes are far from over.
Disputes over land near border By Victoria Panfilova, a columnist of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, exclusively for Vestnik KavkazaResidents of the village of Kirnati in Adjara have recently discovered that part of Georgia's territory has somehow been taken over by Turkey. Farmers going to work on fields were stopped by Turkish border guards with dogs. The border guards shocked them by saying that they were working on Turkish land and were asked to leave.The villagers started searching for the truth from local authorities, but to no avail. In one case they were given no answer, in another they were recommended to ask Tbilisi, in a third case they were accused of illegal border-crossing. To top it all, a Georgian TV channel made a report where the villagers were almost depicted as provokers of a border conflict with the friendly Turkish state. The story has spread throughout the mass media ever since.A low-budget company Obyektiv has found out what was really going on in Kirnati. The arrival of journalists and public figures in the small village animated the local population. “Our ancestors have been cultivating these fields for ages. I have been working on them all my life and now it turns out that we have been plowing and sowing on Turkish land?!” one of them said. Another villager was outraged: “A hundred of people saw how Turkish border guards with dogs came from that side and ordered us to leave. Our government is trying to convince us that it never happened. Has everyone in Kirnati been seeing the same dream?!”The situation at the village near to the border is exceptionally desperate. Losing lands for growing corn, potatoes and other agricultural products, villagers were basically deprived of food. Moreover, there is no work other than agriculture left for them to do. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the part of the fields the Turks do not claim to own have been flooded because of a hydroelectric plant under construction. What can a farmer do without land? Nothing. The prospects of Kirnati's residents will seem absolutely gloomy, if the version of the public figure visiting the place together with journalists of Obyektiv turns out to be true.According to the man, he is well aware that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili gave the Kirnati fields away to Turkey for the ludicrously low price of 1 lari before losing the elections. He claims there is a document, a copy of which he promised to find and show to prove the anti-national policy of the old government. It is hard to understand or even imagine what Mikheil Saakashvili wanted to gain from donating hectares of lands to Turkey. The motives for such unprecedented generosity, if there really were any, cannot be comprehended either. Georgian public officials say that it is true. Their logic is simple: Turkish border guards could not have all gone out of their minds, to cross the border and drive Georgian farmers off their lands without reason. The Georgian Dream coalition is either silent about the problem or blames the Kirnati population, supposedly trying not to escalate tensions with Ankara. “Georgia has no unneeded land to lose or give away. The country will stop developing if the pain of Kirnati's residents is not shared by the nation,” Obyektiv Head Irma Inashvili said on Facebook. She added there that she had talked with Zurab Gamezardashvili, the head of the State Border Service, about the problem. The official confirmed the information about the conflict, although he neglected the fact that Turkish border guards had crossed the border and driven farmers off.Experts say that nothing can be done about the land if there is a treaty ceding the lands, and there seems to exist such a treaty, otherwise the neighbours would not act in such a way. Some public officials of Georgia are less skeptical. “We just need to break the persistence of our government that refuses to anything about the repercussions of their predecessors’ schemes. The situation changes, we will make them resolve the land problem of Kirnati. A few days ago they acted as though they could not understand what we were talking about. Then they started blaming the farmers. Now they are gradually admitting that the Turkish border guards crossed the border. The tendency is evident, so we will continue attaining further changes in their position,” they say. According to Vestnik Kavkaza, the Georgian public is forming a group to coordinate the issue, check whether a similar story can occur in other areas of the country close to borders. Georgia has borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. There are small land lots disputed with all of them. Delimitation and demarcation of the lands has been ongoing for years and the processes are far from ove
