AKHALKALAK, Javakhk (Hetq.am) — In a public statement released today, Javakhk-Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan has raised the alarm over what he sees as the continuing “Turkification” of Georgia.

Chakhalyan, who has charged successive Georgian regimes for implementing anti-Armenian policies, points the finger at former Georgian Prime Minister Saakashvili for facilitating a policy whereby, in the activist’s words, “Turkish-Azeri capital is taking over the business market and not hiring Christians.”

Chakhalyan claims that there are over 560,000 unmarried Christian women over the age of 25 in Georgia that aren’t being employed as a result, and more than one million men in the 18-35 age group that are forced to look for work abroad.

The activist, who has run afoul of Georgian authorities in the past and spent time in jail, says that all the country’s strategic and profitable sectors are being gobbled up by Turks and Azeris and that they have their sights on the rest of the business sector, including Georgia’s rich agricultural market.

Chakhalyan argues that this is a new form of Pan-Turanism that endangers Javakhk, Georgia, as well as Armenia.

In his statement, Chakhalyan calls on all Armenians to raise their voice in opposition to what he describes as the Islamization of Georgia and Javakhk and the blockade of Armenia and Artsakh.