Hundreds of residents of the southern Georgian region of Javakheti where the majority of the population are Armenians have received notification from the Georgian authorities that they have been deprived of Georgian citizenship. The reason for this was their second (Armenian or Russian) citizenship. Georgian laws forbid two citizenships. The only exception is when Georgian citizenship is issued to a foreigner for special services to the country, by presidential order.
The problem worsened after Georgia and the EU signed the association agreement. Before Mikhail Saakashvili came to power, the situation in Javakheti was completely different. Firstly, a big Russian military base had been situated in Akhalkalaki. The majority of contract soldiers, including company officers and service staff, were local Armenians. Of course they had Russian citizenship, and maintained their passports after the withdrawal of the Russian military base from Akhalkalaki.
Secondly, the border between Georgia and Armenia wasn’t controlled or was controlled formally until the mid 2000s. Local residents could cross the border freely, showing any kind of passport or ID. Border guards had no data base to check passports which were shown at a check point. Moreover, border guards and customs servicemen were also local residents.
When Mikhail Saakashvili came to power, the new administration began to act according to the principle “friendship is good, but border guard control is a different thing.” Local customers and border guards were replaced by staff sent from the center. This led to protests, people began to speak about ethnic discrimination, even though the authorities simply wanted to provide real control over the border. Saakashvili and his team knew well that the majority of local residents had two citizenships, but they ignored the fact.
Suddenly a factor played its role. In the mid 2000s, Moscow (after a controversy over the arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia, who were accused of espionage) launched an economic embargo on almost all goods made in Georgia. Ahead of this, Russia launched a visa regime for Georgian citizens, including Javakheti residents. However, a peculiarity of the region was that almost the entire male population of the mountainous territory with a severe climate had been going to Russia for seasonal work since Soviet times. They couldn’t enter Russia with Georgian passports, and getting Armenian citizenship became a massive practice – Armenian citizens didn’t need visas to visit Russia.
The situation became worse when Georgia started negotiations about a visa-free regime with the EU, and Brussels demanded strict regulation of all visa issues and unification of Georgian legislation with EU legislation on the issue. The Georgian parliament adopted amendments to the laws. As a result, the process of issuing a residence permit and long-term visas to foreigners became more complicated. The border control was toughened as well. People who had two passports were easily detected and deprived of Georgian citizenship automatically.
Many ethnic Georgians who were tired of unemployment wanted to get a second passport secretly to go to Russia to work. However, unlike Javakheti Armenians, they had no neighboring country which would issue them passports, according to an ethnic principle.
In any case, a serious problem is growing in one of Georgia’s regions: hundreds (thousands prospectively) of residents are deprived of Georgian citizenship. Theoretically, they can be issued a residence permit, but they will have to go through a complicated and long process. A second way out is to get a Georgian visa. However, according to the EU standards which now cover Georgia, a foreigner can stay in Georgia no more than 90 days during a year. Every three months Javakheti Armenians would have to move to Yerevan, be issued a Georgian visa, and come back to Georgia.
The absence of Georgian documents leads to serious problems: local Armenians have intensive trade relations with other Georgian regions, and they need licenses, waybills, accounts in a bank, they should pay taxes; problems with property registration appear.
One solution to the problem is obvious: they should reject foreign citizenship and become Georgian citizens again. However, first of all, this is also a very difficult process; and secondly, the reasons for getting Armenian passports won’t disappear. The problem is growing. In the last 20 years almost all the residents of Javakheti have obtained Armenian citizenship. The situation may turn into mass protests by the local population and lead to unexpected consequences.
