Georgia

[Armat]

Hayots Ashkharh, Yerevan, in Armenian

6 Mar 04 pp 1, 10

 

Azerbaijan vainly using Georgia to isolate Armenia - paper

 

 

Azerbaijan's attempts to use Georgia for isolating Armenia are in

vain, the Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkharh said while commenting on

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's recent visit to Azerbaijan.

The new leadership of Georgia is not interested in Armenia's

isolation as it needs a certain balance in the Azerbaijani and

Armenian factors, the newspaper said. According to Hayots Ashkharh,

Armenia should try to strengthen its relations with Georgia, as it is

advantageous to both countries, and use its role in Georgia's

Armenian-populated regions and in Georgian-Russian relations. All

this shows that Azerbaijan's attempts to isolate Armenia with

Georgia's help will be in vain, according to the newspaper. The

following is a text of Vardan Grigoryan report by Armenian newspaper

Hayots Ashkharh on 6 March headlined "Why did Saakashvili prefer

Baku?". Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

 

Azerbaijan mistrusts Saakashvili

 

The fact that the Georgian president preferred Baku to Yerevan as the

first country for his regional visit has become a reason for

conclusions that go too far. There is a version that common

geopolitical orientation which formed the basis of cooperation

between [Georgian ex-President] Eduard Shevardnadze and [Azerbaijani

ex-President] Heydar Aliyev makes the new president of Georgia show

his preference for Baku. Our Hayots Ashkharh correspondent comments on

this and other versions in this connection.

 

However, in reality Mikheil Saakashvili's current visits to Moscow,

Washington and then to Baku and Yerevan are not a demonstration of

any preference, but factfinding trips which, to some extent, aim to

determine the intentions of different partners.

 

Moreover, Saakashvili is not so naive not to understand his country's

privilege of being a third party in the Armenian-Azerbaijani

confrontation. Thus, in our opinion, the Georgian president's

decision to go to Baku has a pragmatic nature and even a prosaic

implication. It aims to get first hand information about Baku's

position and to soften the coldness in Georgian-Azerbaijani

relations, which results from the "revolution of roses".

 

The matter is that at first, the Azerbaijani authorities had a biased

approach to the Georgian opposition struggling with the Shevardnadze

administration. Moreover, Mikheil Saakashvili, who is Armenian by

origin along with his supporters, was "beaten up" mainly by the

leadership and population of Bolnisi District which is populated

mainly by Azerbaijanis.

 

Witnesses testify that before the 25 January presidential elections,

the Azerbaijanis of Georgia "had lost their way" and did not know

what to do. They regarded it as a sin to vote for a person "accused

of" being Armenian, while neglecting the elections would mean enmity

with the new president of Georgia. The Azerbaijani community joined

the formal and predetermined elections on 25 January (probably taking

official Baku's advice).

 

Reasons for visiting Baku first

 

This did not end disputes and mutual mistrust between the

Azerbaijanis in Kveno-Kartli and the new authorities of Georgia.

Moreover, when as a result of Saakashvili's rise to power several

important posts were given to several influential people of Armenian

origin, whose surnames had the ending "shvili", the mutual coldness

deepened even more.

 

Recently, Azerbaijani diplomacy took several measures in that country

to increase the influence of Azerbaijanis and to drive a wedge into

Armenian-Georgian relations. [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev

made provocations concerning "Armenian separatism" in Georgia, tried

to raise the issue of returning Meskhetian Turks etc. However, all

these steps have not changed the Georgian authorities' attitude

either to Georgia's Armenian community or to Armenia so far. In such

conditions, the Georgian president should have preferred visiting

Baku first for several reasons. First of all, Saakashvili made an

effort to gain the favour of that country's leadership and Georgia's

Azerbaijani community. Second, Saakashvili will try to establish

Georgian-Azerbaijani cooperation against possible steps by Russia,

not against Armenia (as Azerbaijan wants). Third, Saakashvili will

try to give definite guarantees to the Azerbaijani party concerning

the safety of the two pipelines laid via the territory of Georgia in

order to neutralize the "internationalization of the problem" i.e.

the involvement of a third party.

 

Attempts to isolate Armenia are in vain

 

There is a question - does all this mean that Saakashvili's rise to

power in Georgia creates the necessary preconditions for transforming

the deepening of Georgian-Azerbaijani cooperation into Armenia's

geopolitical isolation? We think that it is no so, and that in this

sense, Azerbaijan's possibilities are not increasing, but decreasing

as none of the two superpowers (the USA and Russia) that have

influence on Georgia are interested in this prospect, proceeding from

their own goals.

 

The new leadership of Georgia is not interested in Armenia's

isolation as in conditions of intensive interference by Turkey and

Azerbaijan (oil pipeline, gas pipeline, attempts to resettle

Meskhetian Turks etc.), it needs a certain balance in the Azerbaijani

and Armenian factors both from a regional and domestic point of view.

 

This means that the Armenian party should also try to strengthen the

balance that was recently established in Armenian-Georgian relations,

which are turning into bilateral and mutually advantageous

cooperation due to Georgia's communications possibilities. And

counterbalancing Turkish-Azerbaijani interference through the

Armenian factor in Georgia is not enough for it. Armenia can also use

its positive role in the Javakhk-Ajaria-Tbilisi triangle, as well as

its role of an energy supplier in Armenia-Georgia-Russia cooperation

in the energy sphere.

 

All this shows that all the recent hopes of Azerbaijani diplomacy to

surround Armenia from the north through Georgia will be in vain.

 

Is this true?that he is Armenian?