Information on serious problems on one part of the Georgian-Armenian border, in the Kvemo-Kartli (Borchaly) region where the Azerbaijani population of Georgia lives, has appeared in the Georgian media.
We cannot say that the interest in boundary problems is big: journalists try to avoid “highly explosive topics,” if no tragic or extraordinary events happen. Moreover, they wouldn’t do it in the context of the tragedy which has happened in Tbilisi, when more than 20 people died in the flooding.
However, information on weird tendencies at the border appeared. For example, in recent times, occupation by Armenian border guards of lands which are situated near the Azerbaijani villages of the Marneul Region of Georgia has become frequent. The border line between the two states hasn’t been defined at this part yet. Tbilisi and Yerevan have been conducting sluggish talks on the issue for several decades, but still there is no agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of the border. Using this fact, border guards of the neighboring state are providing “unilateral works on demarcation” – they build signs which occupy hectares of fertile agricultural lands which belong to Azerbaijani rural communities. Local Azerbaijanis have always cultivated the lands for many years; but suddenly they have faced armed border guards there. In the best case they send the farmers away; in the worst case they arrest people for “illegally crossing the border”, as happened to Allahverdi Pelengov, a resident of Burma, a village in the Marneul Region.
It is easy to understand that considering the difficult relations (i.e. absence of relations) between Armenia and Azerbaijan, such an incident is considered to be “an act of war”, even though nobody has suffered, fortunately. As these incidents are taking place at the Georgian-Armenian border and involve Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani origin, it is the Georgian state that is responsible for the protection of its citizens and their property.
Vestnik Kavkaza tried to find out the official position of the authorities on the boundary incidents. However, nobody wanted to talk to us “on the record”; and even during an unofficial talk, they asked us not to mention their names. They also urged us “not to stir up the situation” and “to realize the delicacy of the moment.”
At the same time, several sources in the Marneul gamgeoba (the local administration) confirmed that the local Azerbaijani population complained about the incidents at the border line and asked the authorities to take necessary steps. In fact there are dozens of hectares of occupied land at the moment.
However, the local and central authorities have no idea what to do with the problem or how to react. Moreover, we couldn’t get a response from the boundary department about their next steps to prevent the problem growing.
It should be noted that these problems appeared long ago. In 1996 the head of the Georgian Parliament Zurab Zhvania visited one of Georgian villages of the region, and journalists heard his talk with local Georgians who complained that Armenian border guards acted in the same way. However, the ambassador of Georgia to Armenia, Gigla Baramidze, said at a session that Yerevan “didn’t like talking about demarcation and delimitation.” Therefore, somebody is simply satisfied with the current ambiguity, as “micro-acts” of occupying lands can be provided in the context, using the method of done deals and using the fact that official Tbilisi has always been delicate in dealing with Georgian-Armenian-Azerbaijani problems.
