Armenian - Georgian relations

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Armenian - Georgian relations

Postby Lernakan on Thu May 31, 2007 3:48 pm

Please post all articles about Georgian-Armenian relations and everything related within this thread



Here is a good starting article from our Georgian "friends". This article contains so many absurd lies that it's not even funny anymore...


ARMENIAN LOBBY: ITS ACADEMIA AND GEORGIA
Written by Vasili Rukhadze

Abkhazia, CA
May 29 2007

One can write an extensive book about the influence and power of the
Armenian lobby in the West and, for that matter, in the world. It
is made up of many well established, well connected and very rich
ethnic Armenians coming out of a large diaspora, or Spyruk, (roughly
5-6 million) spread throughout the United States, Canada, Russia,
France, Great Britain and other European countries. In many cases,
these expatriates have lived abroad for generations. Below are a
couple recent examples of the lobby's strength.

One example was the Armenian National Committee of America pressuring
the US House of Representatives to adopt an amendment in June 2006.

The amendment would block US aid to finance the South Caucasus Railway
(Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars), bypassing Armenia. In October 2006,
the US Senate adopted a similar resolution, which forced President
Bush to sign, in December 2006, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization
Act. The act banned the US Ex-Im (Export-Import) Bank from financing
the construction of the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway.

Another example, in October 2006, occurred when the lower chamber of
the French parliament adopted a controversial bill that made a crime
to deny that Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World
War I in 1915. This law also was pressured by Armenian lobby in France.

The goals of the lobby are clear and widely known: to defend the
interests of the Armenian state in the Western world and to prepare
ground and eventually create a "Historic, Greater Armenia" stretching
from Black Sea to Caspian Sea in Caucasus at the expense of Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey.

To this end, a large segment of Armenian academia (both abroad and in
Armenia) plays a vital role. It actively influences foreign academia
and wider masses about the legacy of Armenian people, its culture
and history. It tries to prove the "wretchedness" and "shallowness
"of those peoples and cultures in the Caucasus which are perceived
as main obstacles on the way of a "Greater Armenia". This article
is just about this issue and it would have never been written if not
for the ever-increasing waves of "academic" falsehoods, insults and
humiliations packaged as "academic scholarship" by their authors. It
is not about one single article, book or a writer. It is about a wider
phenomenon, becoming more and more dangerous not only for "victim"
cultures and peoples, but for Armenians themselves.

These "academic works" flood scientific conference halls, magazines,
newspapers, multitude of websites and bookstores, in USA, Canada,
Europe, and Russia. All these publications are of very high
polygraphic quality apparently sponsored by rich Armenian diaspora
organizations. They quickly and easily find wide audiences, touching
spheres as varied as history, geopolitics, ethnography, archeology,
linguistics, architecture, different areas of art. Their content
varies from being bias to pure absurdity, distorting facts to the
point of rewriting whole chapters of history.

In this whole campaign Georgia has been exceptionally heavily targeted
by multiple Armenian "scholars".

It is beyond the scope of this article to mention particular
names of hostile Armenian academic works and their authors (it
would take multitude of pages anyway). It is not even necessary,
because anyone who wishes can check any Armenian authored article,
essay, presentation, book or just website about Georgia, published
in many foreign languages-they all have one same underlining content:
they belittle Georgia, Georgian people, culture and history in order
to glorify Armenian one. In these various "works" ancient Georgian
language is declared as a branch of Armenian language, actually created
by old Armenian scholars. Unique Georgian architectural monuments:
churches, castles, medieval palaces, still standing in Georgia, are
systematically described as the heritage of Armenian culture (some
pathologically radical groups go as far as to secretly remove original
stones with Georgian scripts on them from ancient Georgian temples and
change them with Armenian ones, to prove buildings' "authenticity"
as Armenian). Multiple samples of historical Georgian music, songs,
temple frescos, clothing, dishes, arms, types of martial arts and
many others are constantly and unquestionably listed as the products
of Armenian culture in the works of various Armenian scholars. Great
Georgian kings, statesmen, writers, musicians, poets and philosophers
are repeatedly and wrongly announced as ethnic Armenians, in order
to glorify the potential of Armenian people while belittling that of
Georgian people's.

All above mentioned efforts of Armenian academia would sound very
funny, especially when representatives of other cultures in France,
Greece, Ukraine, Egypt and many others complain that their most
notable historic figures: statesmen, thinkers, artists are also
being declared as ethnic Armenians. But all these are well beyond
being merely funny because their works deliver a message of poisonous
hatred portraying Georgians as culturally and intellectually inferiors
to Armenians. Georgian ethnos continually is being described as
an oppressor nation who settled on today's Georgian lands later
than Armenians and other ethnic groups and still is oppressing local
population. In their works Georgia is often described as an artificial
conglomerate, put together by Georgian "occupiers". These works are
so many that any foreign scholar who seeks to study historical (and
modern) Caucasus and Georgia in particular, can't avoid encountering
with these absurd, bias materials. Needless to say, a novice researcher
feels immediate contempt against, "oppressor" Georgians, "stealing"
cultural heritage and history from Armenian people.

Armenian academia sees Georgia's Armenian populated region Javakheti
as potentially undivided part of a "Greater Armenia". This latter
should include some other parts of Georgia as well, they say, along
with Georgian capital Tbilisi that they consider as historically
Armenian city (no matter that ethnic Armenians barely make up 4%
of the city's total population). But it is naïve to think that all
this academic bias, steadily turning into mass hatred, is only about
Javakheti or any other piece of land. It more resembles very well
known ethnic hatred, when group of people or whole nation is hated for
being just who they are. This overwhelming and unexplainable hatred
against particular Georgians or whole Georgian people is spilling
over from various books, articles, top or second ranking websites,
from ordinary Armenians or academicians, expressing their feelings
nakedly or thinly veiled in the dirty rag of "academic scholarship".

Those few who dared to pick up a pen to denounce all these were
insulted, threatened and abused by various secretive and never
disclosed affiliates.

It is not entirely clear why Georgia and Georgians deserved such
hatred. In its long and turbulent history Georgia many times saved
the very existence of Armenian people, helping them with military
power or opening its doors to tens of thousands of Armenians to settle
within Georgia, when their lives were threatened by mighty and vicious
empires in the South. The pages of the history are filled with the
fascinating examples of friendship between these two peoples, working
and fighting together for survival against common enemies. Did this
feeling entirely disappear? Armenian academia decided that it is so.

Unfortunately, Georgian academia has been very passive in responding
to these "academic attacks". How much longer can Georgian academia
afford to be idle? It is vital to answer this question because
Georgians run a risk that in about 20-30 years they will lose the
theoretical-academic ground to claim their Georgian heritage and
Georgian culture. The pace of Armenian "academic' onslaught is very
fast. Georgian heritage intensively is being renamed. Georgians do
not need to answer the bias with bias, lies with lies and hatred with
hatred, but they definitely need to start making the world hear their
voice about their academic truth.

Vasili Rukhadze is New York based Georgian political analyst. He
holds Masters Degree in Political Science from the City University
of New York. He is the author of multiple articles, with the focus
on Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia. Currently he is
working on the project about the role of Caucasus and Ukraine in the
West's energy security. Contact vrukhadze@aol.comThis e-mail address
is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view
it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need
JavaScript enabled to view it Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 May 2007 )

http://www.abkhazia.com/content/view/118/2/
www.ArmenianHighland.com

Yes Tseghakron Em - Yev aha K'yerdnum Vahagni Achi Vrah Yerbek Chmexanchel Ukhtis Dem - Aprel, Gorcel u Mernel Vorpes Tsexamard.
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Postby Lernakan on Thu May 31, 2007 3:55 pm

ONLY 4% OF GEORGIANS CONSIDER ARMENIA AS FRIENDLY STATE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.05.2007 15:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the gallup poll in Georgia carried out
by "Georgian Consulting Group" organization, Azerbaijan and Ukraine
occupy the first places among friends of Georgia.

The list of friendly countries is the following:

1-2. Azerbaijan and Ukraine with 12% each.

3-4. The United States and Estonia with 10% each.

5. Turkey -8%.

6. Germany -6%.

7. Armenia -4%.

8-9. Poland, Kazakhstan with 3% each.

10. Turkmenistan -2%.

All other countries totally gathered 20 percent of votes of
respondents. Totally 50 states were named among friendly nations
for Georgia. Only 1 percent of those surveyed considered Russia as
a friendly state.

56 percent of respondents placed Russia in the list of unkind
countries towards Georgia and 31 percent stated that Georgia does not
have enemy-states at all. 13 percent of respondents abstained from
giving an answer. Totally 1123 citizens participated in the poll,
Gruzia-Online reports.
www.ArmenianHighland.com

Yes Tseghakron Em - Yev aha K'yerdnum Vahagni Achi Vrah Yerbek Chmexanchel Ukhtis Dem - Aprel, Gorcel u Mernel Vorpes Tsexamard.
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Postby Lernakan on Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:24 pm

NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS THE LAND OF AZERBAIJAN AND JEVAHETI OF GEORGIA, BUT NOT ARMENIA: GEORGIAN SCIENTIST

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 1 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Agayeva / Doctor of Economic Sciences,
Professor of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Anzor Totadze,
informed Trend that there has been no analogue of such disrespect for
a neighboring country, falsification of the history of the people and
crude attempt to appropriate its cultural heritages as is demonstrated
in the actions of Armenian pseudo-scientists.

According to Totadze, the Armenian academician Suren Ayvazyan and
others are the authors of many vulgar falsifications of historical
facts.

"According to Ayvazyan, Georgia has been created within the territory
of North Armenia, and Azerbaijan created on the territory of East
Armenia. He tries to prove that by claiming that Bakurakert ( Baku)
has been the capital of East Armenia for many years. In addition,
he claims that Armenia was created in 2107 BC," Totadze said.

"According to these pseudo-scientists, the whole South Caucasus
has been represented by Armenia for millennia and this idea fully
corresponds with the morbid wish of the Armenian scientists. All
falsifications lead to Armenian terrorist claims towards Jevaheti,"
Totadze stressed. The Georgian scientist fully refuted the statement
of Armenian scientists by saying that in 1595, 95% of the population
of Jevaheti was settled by the Georgians. According to Totadze, for
the first time, the Armenians who were removed from Turkey appeared
there in autumn of 1829. The historical fact is that in 1829-1831,
25,000 Armenians flowed to Samtskhe-Jevaheti. He said that presently
nearly 70,000 Armenians live in Jevaheti and 250,000 in Georgia.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan and Jevaheti of
Georgia, but not Armenia," Totadze said. The scientist considers the
statements of the Armenian scientists to be dangerous and calls on
the international community to take measures. He highly assessed the
active role of the Human Rights Institute of the Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences in this process. One of the activity directions
of the Institute headed by Rovshan Mustafayev is to discover Armenian
chauvinism which presents a real threat to the South Caucasus.
www.ArmenianHighland.com

Yes Tseghakron Em - Yev aha K'yerdnum Vahagni Achi Vrah Yerbek Chmexanchel Ukhtis Dem - Aprel, Gorcel u Mernel Vorpes Tsexamard.
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Postby Lernakan on Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:34 pm

Heidar Aliev statue opening in Tbilisi
12.05.07 18:35

Ilham Aliev a president of Azerbaijan arrived in Tbilisi with Mikheil Saakashvili to attend an opening of the statue of Heidar Aliev.

Presidents arrived from Poland. They have opened a statue in Abanotubani and assessed this fact as an example of friendship of two countries. Author of the statue is Azerbaijanian sculptor.

Image

HEIDAR ALIEV'S BUST IN RUSTAVI (GEORGIA)
The municipal council of Rustavi, province of Kvemo Kartli, Georgia, decided to immortalize Heidar Aliev's ("the national leader of Azerbajan") name, renaming Gagarin Square Heidar Aliev Square. They anticipate putting also the bust of Aliev.

By Aghavni Harutyunian
www.ArmenianHighland.com

Yes Tseghakron Em - Yev aha K'yerdnum Vahagni Achi Vrah Yerbek Chmexanchel Ukhtis Dem - Aprel, Gorcel u Mernel Vorpes Tsexamard.
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Postby Supermod on Thu Jun 07, 2007 2:22 pm

This thread i closed because multiple break of board rules
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Postby Supermod on Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:42 pm

The thread is reopened and cleared frrom offtops and flood.
I hope the discussion about armeno-georgian relations will go in more constructive manner
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:31 am

ImageImage

In recent history, Armenians and Georgians have been on opposite sides of the fence, politically and sociologically. The primary problem with Georgia is that the nation is not homogeneous, they have many distinct ethnicities living within their borders, with Turkic tribes being quite prominent amongst them.

The multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-faith national reality has always been a problem for the Georgians because they have not been able to formulate a cohesive national character, one that is a representative of all peoples who live within Georgia proper. Moreover, unlike Armenians, Georgians tend to hate and distrust Russians for various reasons. Furthermore, Georgians have deep rooted animosities against Armenians as well. Armenians have always been baffled by this because Armenians have contributed greatly to the Georgian nation.

The "Bagratuni" Georgian kingdom that rose to prominence was of Armenian decent and its military leadership and troop strength was comprised of many Armenians. Armenian Christian monks evangelized Georgian tribes and, thereafter, administered their national church for several centuries. Armenians founded or directly influenced the national script of Georgians and also heavily influenced their national architecture. Many prominent Georgians, including their present president, are of Armenian decent. The Armenian population of Tbilisi, during the nineteenth century outnumbered Georgians, exceeding fifty percent of the total population.

Despite all of the above, Georgians have portrayed hostile attitudes towards Armenians Within the late ninetieth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when Armenians were desperately struggling against Turks for their survival, Georgians often allied themselves with Turks against Armenians. The Georgian military even attacked northern Armenia in 1918 but was defeated by Armenian troops under the leadership of General Andranik General Drastamat. Even today, the volatile situation within Armenian populated region of Javakhq is a blaring example of how explosive Georgian-Armenian relations continue to be.

Consequently, Armenian nationalists do not have much respect towards Georgian politics and Georgian society. What's more, with strong Turkic, American and Jewish influences within Georgia today, I do not see Georgians looking favorably towards Armenians and/or Russians within the foreseeable future. Most Armenian nationalists, including myself, don't have any problems with the Georgian people. Our problems with Tblisi is their constant pro-Turkish policies and their continued betrayal of their neighbor to their south. Moreover, my biggest disappointment in Armeno-Georgian relations is that although Armenians and Georgians have great potential in working together within the Caucasus, due to Georgia's intimate involvement with Washington, Tel Aviv, and Ankara - this potential has not been realized.

Armenian
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:33 am

The Georgia's blatant aggression against Armenia in 1918 is rarely discussed within Armenian society today. Note that the aggression came at a time when Armenia was barely alive, struggling to get on its feet. They, as a nation, are a bunch of filthy cowards on par with Turks, if not worst. I look forward to the day when the Armenian Republic will number Javakhq and Batumi as its districts.

Armenian

THE ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN WAR OF 1918

Armenian-Georgian relations figure hardly at all in public
discussion. Yet in their enduringly fraught character they have been
and to this day remain important to the fashioning of Armenian
nationhood and are also significant for the future stability of the
Armenian state and the region as a whole. Varik Virapian's `The
Armenian-Georgian War of 1918' (250pp, Yerevan, 2003) provides
therefore a valuable introduction to the subject starting from the war
that exploded between the two states immediately upon their formation
in that same year.

As with Armenian-Azeri and Armenian-Turkish relations, disputes over
territory were a main cause for the hostilities between Armenia and
Georgia with the latter laying claim to regions such as Lori and
Akhalkalak both of which were populated overwhelmingly by Armenians.
Georgian ambition to annex these territories flouted pre-independence
agreements made by the major nationalist forces in the Caucuses - the
Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis - to mark out new state borders
in accord with demographic facts and the wishes of the majority
populations inhabiting disputed territory. Georgia had its reasons for
disregarding such agreements.

Besides seeking an expansion of territory Georgian ambitions were
driven by another equally important domestic consideration.
Historically the Georgian elite had rallied its forces against
Armenian economic supremacy in Georgia. Following independence it
seized the opportunity to destroy bastions of Armenian power,
resorting to whatever means it could. In this enterprise the Georgian
state had every interest in weakening its Armenian neighbour that it
regarded not only as a contestant over territory, but as a possible
defender of Armenian elites in Georgia and a contender in the struggle
for hegemony over the Caucuses.

In the looming war the Georgian state had a decided advantage. The
ruling Menshevik Party provided it with an experienced and well-oiled
political machine that received critical support from German
imperialism that had made of Georgia a semi-colony. Here it is perhaps
worth noting that though all post 1918 territorial disputes in the
Caucuses were generated by the clash of locally rooted nationalist
forces, these were exacerbated by European powers who acted the role
of chess players manipulating and moving their chosen regional allies
in accord with these allies' intrinsic powers but to a design of their
own ambitions.

Throughout the disputed regions and Georgia as a whole, the Georgian
authorities moved fast to secure advantageous positions. They
systematically tightened the political and military noose round
Armenian populated regions. They set deadlines for the removal of
Armenian national organisations from Tbilisi and demanded the
immediate disarmament of Armenian military contingents that were based
on what they regarded as their sovereign territory. Simultaneously
they launched a political and economic assault on all Armenians in
Georgia - with raids on Armenian properties, confiscations of goods,
unprecedented tax levies and other arbitrary demands. In Lori and
Akhalkalak Georgian forces having disarmed local Armenian units began
to plunder the population, confiscating crops, foodstuffs and
property. Thus was set the basis for the Armenian-Georgian war of
1918.

Armenia was ill equipped to wage war. Virapian's quotes from many
founders of the Armenian republic pointing to the new state's economic
and social dislocation and its political and military isolation,
surrounded as it was by two other hostile neighbours, Turkey and
Azerbaijan who also had appetite for territory populated by Armenians.
Reminiscent of Armenian politics today, Armenian disadvantage was
compounded by the refusal of Diaspora capital and its educated elite
to come to its assistance. Armenian military operations were further
hindered by lack of political and military centralisation, huge
logistical and communication problems and increasing indecision by the
Armenian government as well as by hostile Turkish and British
manipulation.

Armenian-Georgian tensions finally exploded into open war in December
of 1918. Full-scale military clashes followed attempts by Georgian
forces to repress an Armenian uprising in Lori protesting against
Georgian misrule and abuse. Taking the form of a popular peoples' war,
Armenian forces initially registered significant gains particularly
under the leadership of General Dro. Rapidly however their fortunes
dipped. Armenian positions were undermined by Georgian control of sea,
road and rail routes essential for Armenian supplies and
reinforcements. Georgia also received significant direct and indirect
support from Turkish and Azeri forces. In disputed regions where
political and military control changed hands regularly Georgia was not
averse to Turkish conquests hoping these would drive out Armenian
populations fearful of renewed Turkish slaughter. Once they retook
possession of these areas, in an indirect form of ethnic cleansing,
they proceeded to erect barriers to returning Armenian refuges thus
beginning a hoped for demographic transformation of Lori and
Akhalkalak.

The conclusion to the war and the final anti-democratic settlement
expressed accurately both the balance of forces and the predatory
ambitions of the Georgian elites. Armenia, against its will, against
the wishes of the local population and against previously agreed
principles of dividing territory according to the democratic wishes of
national majorities was forced to concede the larger part of disputed
areas.

Though Virapian's account is in many places over-detailed he
nevertheless supplies a shocking record of Georgian chauvinist assault
on the half million-strong Armenian community within its borders. This
community was treated as a criminal entity, thousands were arrested,
their property was confiscated and they were beaten, humiliated,
isolated and transformed into pariahs. So the basis was set for the
neutralisation and assimilation of Armenian communities in Georgia.
During the Soviet era this process continued by other means.

There is in Virapian's account a significant gap. He does not explain
why Georgian nationalism proved to be so decisive and why Armenian
strategy and tactics so prevaricating, based on wishful thinking and
expectations of British or other European assistance. Independence for
the Georgian nationalists presented them with the political power with
which to take on and defeat their main internal competitor, the
Armenian economic class. So brimming with confidence they set out to
secure for themselves the lion's share of Caucasian territory that
would give them the best geo-political and economic foundations for
their state. In contrast, the Armenian elites lacked all these
qualities. They had in fact opposed the formation of an independent
Armenian state. They preferred instead a confederation of Caucasian
nations that would secure them rights to function freely throughout
the Caucuses and particularly in Tibilisi and Baku that for them were
pastures more profitable than Yerevan. Independence for the Armenian
elite was a set back, a hoped for temporary inconvenience to be put
right by imperialism. So the Armenian elite floundered while vainly
waiting for imperialist charity.

Virabian's book also prompts thought about another important problem
of history that today receives little or no attention. In its own way
the experience of the Armenian-Georgian war demands consideration of
received opinion that the individual nation state is necessarily the
most appropriate form for national freedom. In the Caucasus
nation-state formation led to repeated wars, to the persistence and
even aggravation of wartime miseries, illness, hunger, starvation and
to a further dislocation of local economic life. During the Soviet era
dominant elites hoping to build homogenous nation-states resorted to
quiet ethnic cleansing, national repressions, cultural assimilation
and isolation of `foreign communities' that had in fact inhabited the
region for centuries. The seeds were sown for yet more hatred and yet
more war. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union new elites
exploited old hatreds to wage war for new privileges, war in which
once more the common people suffered whilst a tiny minority built
mansions. Whether there are alternatives more amenable to harmonious,
democratic inter-national coexistence requires further consideration,
and here too the Armenian experience offers a rich legacy.

Source: http://groong.usc.edu/tcc/tcc-20060508.html
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:35 am

Image
Georgia President Eduard Shevardnadze, left, congratulates Turkish President Suleyman Demirel after presenting him with the Georgian order of Golden Fleece in Tbilisi, on Friday. Suleyman Demirel arrived in Georgia on Friday for two days of meetings with his Georgia counterpart in a summit expected to focus on Russia's war in Chechnya and a key oil pipeline that would bypass Russia. Sunday, January 16, 2000, AP/PTI

Georgian Ex-President Says Armenia Should Respect Azerbaijan

Eduard Shevarnadze, the Georgian Ex-President, who worked together with Azerbaijan’s All-Nation Leader heydar Aliyev for many years, urges Armenia to respect Azerbaijan, since it is the most powerful state in South Caucasus, Trend reports referring to the National AzTV Channel. According to Mr. Shevarnadze, just owing to the political will of Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan has taken the leading position in the region. “ Armenia should respect Azerbaijan, otherwise it may lost its independence. I think that Armenians will realize the necessity to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The delay in this issue may represent even more heavy results than the present-day ones, as Azerbaijan has left behind both Armenia and Georgia by economic, military and defence, and other indicators,” stated Mr. Shevranadze. “Heydar Aliyev was a unique person. He founded the independent state on an empty place. The existing Azerbaijani leader is a wise man too. Heydar Aliyev did not make a mistake when he chose him as his successor,” concluded the Georgian Ex-President.

Link: http://news.trendaz.com/cgi-bin/read...923956&lang=EN
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:35 am

Georgia for Armenians?

ImageImage
ImageImage

The word “multinational” is often applied to Georgia, where the number of different nationalities reaches 120 and makes up 18 percent of Georgia’s 5,450,000 population. But trends show that it is becoming more homogeneous; in 1989, 32 percent of the population was non-Georgian. Although their numbers are in decline, Armenians are Georgia’s largest minority, at 8.1 percent. (Russians make 6.3 percent; Azeris, 5.7. Other groups include xxxs and Greeks. Source: World Fact Book.) Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania’s mother is Armenian and many Armenians claim that the Georgian president is in fact Armenian, from a family that had been “Sahakian”, but adopted the “shvili” suffix like many other immigrants. (Saakashvili has not publicly commented on the claim.).

According to official data there are 248,929 Armenians in Georgia. Armenians, however, say that the number reaches 400,000 and that 160,000 live in Javakhk with 120,000 Armenians in Tbilisi. About 50-60,000 are said to live in Abkhazia. Once strong and influential, today Armenians feel unsure about their future in Georgia. In 1991 Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first president of independent Georgia, sparked separatism toward national minorities in the republic with his “hosts and guests” doctrine. Posters in the country hailed “Georgia for Georgians.” Gamsakhurdia, whose policy mainly concentrated on cleansing the country from “non-Georgians”, was ousted in 1993.

Gamsakhurdia’s presidential term, though short, was significant for the Armenian community. Many left during the period, when they felt the sting of ethnic prejudice and its effect on chances to thrive in a society predisposed against outsiders. More than a decade later, the legacy of discrimination still influences Armenian life in Georgia. The biggest concern Armenians have in Georgia is assimilation. They say the best chance to have success in Georgia is to change the Armenian surname suffix to “shvili” or “dze.” An Armenian student of the State University in Tbilisi says she was told she should change her name before applying for her PhD diploma.

“The truth is that even after succeeding in getting a PhD, there is no chance to get a well-paying job with an Armenian name,” the student says. If Armenians now feel like second-class citizens, it has not always been so. According to an 1821 census, Armenians far outnumbered Georgians in the capital at that time. In Tbilisi, Armenians will show many architectural pearls constructed by prominent Armenian architects of the last centuries. Mansions built by influential Armenians of long ago are among the most attractive buildings in Tbilisi. In the 18th and 19th centuries, rich Armenian merchants, xxxelers and oil industrialists invested heavily in business and helped build cultural centers and schools. Today in “Old Tbilisi”, the Caravanserais, the popular trade centers of the 18th and 19th centuries owned by Armenians are being renovated – turned into modern salons, boutiques, restaurants. And the gentrification is also removing traces of the district’s Armenian past, as signs that once said “Bari Galust” (welcome) are being covered over by new, non-ethnic, facades.

[...]

Source: http://www.agbu.org/agbunews/display.asp?A_ID=154
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:37 am

Armenian Lobby: its Academia and Georgia

Written by Vasili Rukhadze, Tuesday, 29 May 2007

One can write an extensive book about the influence and power of the Armenian lobby in the West and, for that matter, in the world. It is made up of many well established, well connected and very rich ethnic Armenians coming out of a large diaspora, or Spyruk, (roughly 5-6 million) spread throughout the United States, Canada, Russia, France, Great Britain and other European countries. In many cases, these expatriates have lived abroad for generations. Below are a couple recent examples of the lobby’s strength. One example was the Armenian National Committee of America pressuring the US House of Representatives to adopt an amendment in June 2006. The amendment would block US aid to finance the South Caucasus Railway (Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars), bypassing Armenia. In October 2006, the US Senate adopted a similar resolution, which forced President Bush to sign, in December 2006, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act. The act banned the US Ex-Im (Export-Import) Bank from financing the construction of the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway.

Another example, in October 2006, occurred when the lower chamber of the French parliament adopted a controversial bill that made a crime to deny that Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World War I in 1915. This law also was pressured by Armenian lobby in France. The goals of the lobby are clear and widely known: to defend the interests of the Armenian state in the Western world and to prepare ground and eventually create a “Historic, Greater Armenia” stretching from Black Sea to Caspian Sea in Caucasus at the expense of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. To this end, a large segment of Armenian academia (both abroad and in Armenia) plays a vital role. It actively influences foreign academia and wider masses about the legacy of Armenian people, its culture and history. It tries to prove the “wretchedness” and “shallowness “of those peoples and cultures in the Caucasus which are perceived as main obstacles on the way of a “Greater Armenia”. This article is just about this issue and it would have never been written if not for the ever-increasing waves of “academic” falsehoods, insults and humiliations packaged as “academic scholarship” by their authors. It is not about one single article, book or a writer. It is about a wider phenomenon, becoming more and more dangerous not only for “victim” cultures and peoples, but for Armenians themselves.

These “academic works” flood scientific conference halls, magazines, newspapers, multitude of websites and bookstores, in USA, Canada, Europe, and Russia. All these publications are of very high polygraphic quality apparently sponsored by rich Armenian diaspora organizations. They quickly and easily find wide audiences, touching spheres as varied as history, geopolitics, ethnography, archeology, linguistics, architecture, different areas of art. Their content varies from being bias to pure absurdity, distorting facts to the point of rewriting whole chapters of history.

In this whole campaign Georgia has been exceptionally heavily targeted by multiple Armenian “scholars”.

It is beyond the scope of this article to mention particular names of hostile Armenian academic works and their authors (it would take multitude of pages anyway). It is not even necessary, because anyone who wishes can check any Armenian authored article, essay, presentation, book or just website about Georgia, published in many foreign languages-they all have one same underlining content: they belittle Georgia, Georgian people, culture and history in order to glorify Armenian one. In these various “works” ancient Georgian language is declared as a branch of Armenian language, actually created by old Armenian scholars. Unique Georgian architectural monuments: churches, castles, medieval palaces, still standing in Georgia, are systematically described as the heritage of Armenian culture (some pathologically radical groups go as far as to secretly remove original stones with Georgian scripts on them from ancient Georgian temples and change them with Armenian ones, to prove buildings’ “authenticity” as Armenian). Multiple samples of historical Georgian music, songs, temple frescos, clothing, dishes, arms, types of martial arts and many others are constantly and unquestionably listed as the products of Armenian culture in the works of various Armenian scholars. Great Georgian kings, statesmen, writers, musicians, poets and philosophers are repeatedly and wrongly announced as ethnic Armenians, in order to glorify the potential of Armenian people while belittling that of Georgian people’s.

All above mentioned efforts of Armenian academia would sound very funny, especially when representatives of other cultures in France, Greece, Ukraine, Egypt and many others complain that their most notable historic figures: statesmen, thinkers, artists are also being declared as ethnic Armenians. But all these are well beyond being merely funny because their works deliver a message of poisonous hatred portraying Georgians as culturally and intellectually inferiors to Armenians. Georgian ethnos continually is being described as an oppressor nation who settled on today’s Georgian lands later than Armenians and other ethnic groups and still is oppressing local population. In their works Georgia is often described as an artificial conglomerate, put together by Georgian “occupiers”. These works are so many that any foreign scholar who seeks to study historical (and modern) Caucasus and Georgia in particular, can’t avoid encountering with these absurd, bias materials. Needless to say, a novice researcher feels immediate contempt against, “oppressor” Georgians, “stealing” cultural heritage and history from Armenian people.

Armenian academia sees Georgia’s Armenian populated region Javakheti as potentially undivided part of a “Greater Armenia”. This latter should include some other parts of Georgia as well, they say, along with Georgian capital Tbilisi that they consider as historically Armenian city (no matter that ethnic Armenians barely make up 4% of the city’s total population). But it is naïve to think that all this academic bias, steadily turning into mass hatred, is only about Javakheti or any other piece of land. It more resembles very well known ethnic hatred, when group of people or whole nation is hated for being just who they are. This overwhelming and unexplainable hatred against particular Georgians or whole Georgian people is spilling over from various books, articles, top or second ranking websites, from ordinary Armenians or academicians, expressing their feelings nakedly or thinly veiled in the dirty rag of “academic scholarship”.

Those few who dared to pick up a pen to denounce all these were insulted, threatened and abused by various secretive and never disclosed affiliates.

It is not entirely clear why Georgia and Georgians deserved such hatred. In its long and turbulent history Georgia many times saved the very existence of Armenian people, helping them with military power or opening its doors to tens of thousands of Armenians to settle within Georgia, when their lives were threatened by mighty and vicious empires in the South. The pages of the history are filled with the fascinating examples of friendship between these two peoples, working and fighting together for survival against common enemies. Did this feeling entirely disappear? Armenian academia decided that it is so.

Unfortunately, Georgian academia has been very passive in responding to these “academic attacks”. How much longer can Georgian academia afford to be idle? It is vital to answer this question because Georgians run a risk that in about 20-30 years they will lose the theoretical-academic ground to claim their Georgian heritage and Georgian culture. The pace of Armenian “academic’ onslaught is very fast. Georgian heritage intensively is being renamed. Georgians do not need to answer the bias with bias, lies with lies and hatred with hatred, but they definitely need to start making the world hear their voice about their academic truth.

Source: http://www.abkhazia.com/content/view/118/2/
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:38 am

NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS THE LAND OF AZERBAIJAN AND JEVAHETI OF GEORGIA, BUT NOT ARMENIA: GEORGIAN SCIENTIST

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan, June 1 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Agayeva / Doctor of Economic Sciences,
Professor of the Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Anzor Totadze,
informed Trend that there has been no analogue of such disrespect for
a neighboring country, falsification of the history of the people and
crude attempt to appropriate its cultural heritages as is demonstrated
in the actions of Armenian pseudo-scientists. According to Totadze,
the Armenian academician Suren Ayvazyan and others are the authors
of many vulgar falsifications of historical facts.

"According to Ayvazyan, Georgia has been created within the territory
of North Armenia, and Azerbaijan created on the territory of East
Armenia. He tries to prove that by claiming that Bakurakert ( Baku)
has been the capital of East Armenia for many years. In addition,
he claims that Armenia was created in 2107 BC," Totadze said.

"According to these pseudo-scientists, the whole South Caucasus
has been represented by Armenia for millennia and this idea fully
corresponds with the morbid wish of the Armenian scientists. All
falsifications lead to Armenian terrorist claims towards Jevaheti,"
Totadze stressed. The Georgian scientist fully refuted the statement
of Armenian scientists by saying that in 1595, 95% of the population
of Jevaheti was settled by the Georgians. According to Totadze, for
the first time, the Armenians who were removed from Turkey appeared
there in autumn of 1829. The historical fact is that in 1829-1831,
25,000 Armenians flowed to Samtskhe-Jevaheti. He said that presently
nearly 70,000 Armenians live in Jevaheti and 250,000 in Georgia.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan and Jevaheti of
Georgia, but not Armenia," Totadze said. The scientist considers the
statements of the Armenian scientists to be dangerous and calls on
the international community to take measures. He highly assessed the
active role of the Human Rights Institute of the Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences in this process. One of the activity directions
of the Institute headed by Rovshan Mustafayev is to discover Armenian
chauvinism which presents a real threat to the South Caucasus.

Source: http://news.trendaz.com/cgi-bin/read...934899&lang=EN
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:39 am

Armenia plans to occupy Abkhazia? Georgian intelligentsia accuses Armenians of genocide of Georgians

APA news agency (Baku) reports that 60 representatives of the Georgian intelligentsia have demanded that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili recognize the genocide committed by Armenians in Georgia.

They say that in 1993, the “Bagramyan” military unit, together with Abkhazians, fought against the Georgian army and killed Georgians living in Abkhazia: “Before the Czar, Russia populated Georgian Javakheti with Armenians, there had been no single Armenian in that region. However, today Javakheti is mentioned as part of Armenia. Having ‘crippled’ the Georgian monuments in the territory of Javakheti, the Armenians are not trying to convince everybody that they are Armenian. All this is being done systematically, and so, must be recognized as a genocide against the Georgian nation.”

Member of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia in exile Akaky Gasviani supports this initiative and points out that the Armenians have a big role in the “occupation” of Georgian lands and the establishment of the separatist regime in Abkhazia. The Golos Armenii daily publishes the abridged version of the article “What Is Armenia Plotting Against Georgia,” published in the Aisi daily (Georgia) (#36, Oct 3-9 2006). Golos Armenii says that the article tells how Armenians populated Abkhazia and Ajaria and what the atrocities the “Bagramyan” battalion committed during the war against the Georgians. "Journalist Gogneli quotes “some expert on Armenian problems” as saying:

“If anybody thinks that the Russians will appropriate Abkhazia, he is mistaken. Should they – God forbid — recognize Abkhazia as an independent, the Armenians will occupy this region in just one year. Today, they are silent and are just waiting for a good opportunity. But as soon as it happens, they will rise and appropriate this Georgian region. Today, they are trying to occupy Abkhazia’s sea coast — they are actively working in this direction. Then, they will ‘take care of’ Javakheti” and, finally, they will get access to the sea. This is a part of their “Great Armenia” plan. So, we, the Georgians, must be vigilant and wise. I wonder if our leadership is thinking about it?"

The Azg daily says that, neither in the Georgian mass media nor via its own sources in Georgia, has it managed to find anything that could prove the information of the Georgian daily. Asked by Azg to comment on the statement, Ambassador of Georgia to Armenia Revaz Gachechiladze said that he knows nothing about such a statement and, even if it was made, he, first of all, wants to know the names of its authors. “In any case, this is not the position of the Georgian Government.”

Link: http://www.regnum.ru/english/739111.html?forprint
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:40 am

Historic Concern: Georgian Armenians say authorities out to rid country of Armenian traces

Image

By Aris Ghazinyan, ArmeniaNow Reporter

AKHALTSKHA, GEORGIA – A once powerful Armenian ethno-cultural layer in Georgia is currently facing destruction. This at least is the conclusion of representatives of Armenian public organizations operating in the territory of Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakhetia (Javakhk) province. In their opinion, the eradication of the Armenian element has been elevated by official Tbilisi into state policy and it is being effectively carried out especially in the area of Armenian architecture.

“The process of turning the Armenian monuments of medieval architecture into Georgian ones, has sense only in the context of the common policy of Georgian authorities,” Ludwig Petrosyan, chairman of the Armenian National Public Union (ANPU) told ArmeniaNow. “In this connection it is no wonder that this policy is being initially tested in the provincial center of Akhaltskha,” a traditionally Armenian province.

In 1829, Russian general Paskevich occupied Akhaltskha and annexed it to the Russian Empire. The same general, in 1830, carried out the resettlement of 2,536 Armenian families from Armenian Karin (Erzrum) to Akhaltskha, which then was situated only on the left bank of the tributary of the Kura – Potskhov. The Armenian population that settled down on the right bank of the river expressed their desire to call that region “New Erzrum”, but the general did not give his consent, saying that the right bank of the Potskhov, in accordance with the resettlement plan, would bear the name of “Plan”. At present, this region of Akhaltskha is known under the name of “Mard”. At least since the 10th century the opposite bank has borne the Arabic name of “Rabat”. It became the nucleus of the town’s establishment.

“Basing on this very fact the authorities of official Tbilisi are trying to prove to the world that up to the first half of the 19th century there was no Armenian town-forming factor in Akhaltskha,” says the head of the ANPU legal department Samson Abrahamyan. “Thereby the Georgian leadership totally ignores the ancient and medieval history of the land and is trying to overlook the presence of numerous traces of Armenian culture – including churches and cemeteries in the town’s left bank dated to an earlier period.

That’s why the traces of Armenian life preserved there are either being destroyed or portrayed as Georgian. And this policy often acquires comic manifestations: in particular, the exclusively Armenian tombstones – khachkars (stone crosses) are presented as Georgian gravestones by way of putting Georgian inscriptions on them. The same inscriptions can be met today also on the facades of Armenian buildings in Rabat. The Surb Astvatsatsin (St. Virgin) Church, for example, dates back to 1356. Founded in the 12th-13th centuries the Surb Yeremyan Church originally was an Armenian Apostolic and later Armenian Catholic Church. It is remarkable that the country’s authorities are thus trying to present even the Catholic buildings as Georgian, although Georgians have never been Catholics. They were Muslims, but not Catholics.”

This region of Georgia, as in the north-western region of Armenia, is a center of Armenian Catholicism. The majority of the Christian population here are Catholics, and it is from among them that one of the prominent figures of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal G. P. Aghajanyan came.

“The Armenians of Akhaltskha constituted the core of trade-merchant and manufacturing urban estates, they had their workshops and were engaged in medicine and education,” Hrant Karapetyan, the head of the youth union of scouts, said in an ArmeniaNow interview. “In 1876 the population was 13,300, and in 1900 it was 16,116, and the Armenian population made 13,000. There were Armenian periodicals in the town as well as numerous schools. There were five Armenian churches, and among them the famous educational complex at the Surb Nshan Cathedral, which is today presented by Georgian authorities as a monument of Georgian architecture. Besides Armenian churches there was also a mosque and two synagogues in the town.”

The old xxxish cemetery of Akhaltskha was situated on the left bank next to the Armenian cemetery. Despite the fact that there are practically no xxxs left in town, the cemetery itself is surrounded by a high stone fence and is under protection.

“The same cannot be said about the old Armenian cemetery,” says Ludwig Petrosyan. He himself is an Akhaltskha native, whose ancestors lived here long before the resettlement of 1830.

“The uniqueness and value of this cemetery consists in the fact that along with early Christian buildings it is a material proof of the permanent presence of Armenians in the town,” he says. “It is an old necropolis where residents of Akhaltskha were buried even before the 19th century. That’s why this cemetery is not properly protected by the state. Of course, much depends on us, however in the current conditions we are practically deprived of many possibilities.”

A monument to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey was erected in one of the hills near the town last year upon Petrosyan’s initiative. The only such monument in the territory of Georgia is a traditional Armenian khachkar. It was set up on the threshold of the saddest day in Armenian history – April 24. The project had been coordinated with municipal authorities.

“However, it was dismantled by officers of the law, on orders by provincial authorities, and I was summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office,” remembers the ANPU chairman. It was only after a row threatening to strain Armenian-Georgian state relations that the monument was restored, by the intervention of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

“The provincial leadership did not allow us to fence the khachkar and build a dozen steps leading up to it on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” says Petrosyan. “What larger project can we speak about in such conditions? It is enough to mention that against the background of numerous idling and decaying Armenian architectural constructions framing the hollow of Akhaltskha, the only functioning church is literarily driven into the former synagogue and then into the mosque situated in the J-e-wish district.”

Source: http://www.armenianow.com/archive/2005/eng/?go=pub&id=861
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Postby Armenian on Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:40 am

Turkish Investments in Georgia and Azerbaijan: Recent Trends and Future Prospects

Image
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyib Erdogan, Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev cut
a red ribbon during the opening of the new international
airport in Tbilisi February 7, 2007.


What are the recent trends regarding Turkish investments in Georgia and Azerbaijan? Does geographical and cultural proximity present a particular advantage for Turkish investors? Recent figures show that Turkey has the firm intention to assert itself as a serious investor in the Caucasus with the aim of diversifying its investments in sectors other than energy. Turkey is Georgia’s second largest trade partner. Turkish exports, 27% of Georgia’s total imports, increased from $68 million in 1995 to $131 million in 2000. Nutritional products constitute a majority of Turkish exports to Georgia while automobile spare parts, machinery, and furniture follow; it seems there has not been many changes in the composition of export items. Russia became Georgia’s second trade partner after the Russian crisis in 1998 and cheap and large quantities of Russian products to Georgia decreased the competitiveness of Turkish exports. With regard to direct investments, the National Bank of Georgia indicated that Turkish foreign investment stock between 1997 and 2005 reached $175 million.

However, Turkish investments are not the leading ones in Georgia; American and British foreign investments are the two important foreign investment sources with their volumes being far higher than those of Turkey. It seems that Turkey cannot exploit its geographical advantage perfectly. In 2004, Turkish direct investments reached $30 million, which was 23% of total foreign investments in Georgia. A majority of these investments went to telecommunication, manufacturing, harbor management, glass packaging, and water bottling sectors. Turkish investments are limited in the construction sector with Turkish contractors having recent contracts amounting $88 million.

Latest trade negotiations, which included such issues as customs, direct investment, taxation, technical collaboration, and commercial conflicts, however, are promising; Turkey is planning to invest $5 billion in Georgia in the form of direct investment, exports, imports, and project funding. Turkey is interested in especially energy, agriculture, and construction fields on which it has national expertise. Important Turkish and Turkish-affiliated firms in Georgia are Mina Joint Stock Company, Geocell, Sener Arda Group, Delta Petroleum Company, and construction companies of Baytur, Borova, Burc, Ustay, and Zafer.

In sum, similar to other CIS countries, foreign investment in Georgia is targeted at extracting and transporting natural resources and privatizing some state-owned enterprises. The largest foreign investments were made in 2003-2004, and mostly attributable to the construction of the Baku-Supsa and Baku-Ceyhan oil pipelines. However, these areas do not contribute much to national production, employment, and economic activity. Foreign investments towards other areas especially manufacturing sector would more increase economic activity, offer employment opportunities, and stimulate other sectors.

Proximity between Turkey and Azerbaijan

Turkey’s trade and investment ties with Azerbaijan are closer than those with other Caucasian countries. Turkey is among the leading investors in Azerbaijan with an $8.7 billion of investment volume and a 15% economic share. Turkey is the third largest source of Azeri imports after the U.S. and U.K. Whereas other leading investment countries generally engage in petroleum-related investments, Turkey’s investments are focusing on other sectors as well. So far, 1,267 Turkish firms have been registered in Azerbaijan; but currently half of these firms are active. Between 1994 and 1999, Turkey’s share in direct investment, similar to that of the U.K., in Azerbaijan was 15% (ranked second) whereas the economic share of the U.S. was 28%. As of 2005, Turkey’s share in direct investment in Azerbaijan increased to 36% with a volume of $1.5 billion out of total $4.1 billion.

Turkish firms today are operating in many sectors in Azerbaijan like oil, telecommunication, food, banking, insurance, construction, textile, automobile, transportation, chemicals, iron, steel, energy, education, media, marketing, and bakeries. This high diversity of investments stimulates economic activity by creating employment, transferring know-how, and modernizing the industries. Some important Turkish investment firms are Turkish National Petroleum Company, Turkcell (GSM sector), Azersun (various sectors), Anadolu Holding (beverage sector), Koc Holding (retailer, automobile, banking), Teletas (communication), and contracting firms of Atilla Dogan, Borova, Ekpar, Enka, Tekfen, Tepe, Yucelen, and Zafer. However, recent trends show that contracting firms’ share is decreasing due to economic and political instability.

In conclusion, Turkey has national advantages and expertise in construction, textile, tourism, and agriculture sectors, and is relatively good in the service sector (banking and finance, exporting, marketing, and real estate) as well. Analyzing export and direct investment items, we see that Turkey cannot exploit its national advantages well in Georgia but can in Azerbaijan; Georgia cannot benefit from its close proximity to these resources. For example, when we consider Turkey’s expertise in the construction sector both in the domestic and foreign markets, it is interesting to see such a low Turkish foreign investment volume in the Georgia.

In a recent speech, Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Mr. Kursad Tuzmen declared that Turkey is willing to increase its investment volume in the construction sector in Georgia to $350 million. Future business prospects between Georgia and Turkey would be as follows: Turkey, having a large agriculture sector, can use this knowledge in the Georgian agriculture sector especially in areas like processing, packaging, and exporting agricultural products and Georgia can improve. The textile industry, Turkey’s key competitive sector, can also play an important role in the development of Georgian textiles and the leather sector. In addition, there is a potential for joint production related to small-sized vehicles such as trucks and minibuses. Regarding the service sector, Roman Gotsiridze, president of the National Bank, indicated future prospects that Turkish investments can improve in Georgia, such as banking, telecommunication, and tourism.

Turkey, however, is effectively exploiting its competitive advantages, thanks to geographical and cultural proximity, in Azerbaijan as evidenced by its leading position in non-petroleum sectors. Azerbaijan’s efforts in renovating its industries depend in part on learning from foreign investors through collaboration and transferring know-how. When we think of the leading position of Turkish investments in areas other than oil, Azeri firms can learn from and collaborate with modern and sophisticated Turkish firms. In exchange, Turkish firms can get further business opportunities in the Azeri market. In this regard, Turkish firms have some advantages compared to their rivals especially from Russia and Iran. Turkey has cultural proximity, market knowledge and experience in Azerbaijan.

Turkey is more experienced than Russia and Iran in the construction, textile, food, telecommunication, banking, and agriculture sectors. These advantages, if used correctly and ethically, can open further doors to Turkish firms in the Azeri markets. One caveat is that some Turkish firms are infamous for their bad quality and unethical business behaviors. This may hurt the Turkish image and may lead to an overall negative perception towards Turkish firms both in Azeri and other surrounding markets.

Source: http://www.caucaz.com/home_eng/breve_contenu.php?id=259
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