The visit of the Armenian Prime Minister in Tbilisi confirmed the good relations between Armenia and Georgia

May 19, 2015 By administrator

The visit by Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan on May 17 in Tbilisi was intended to reaffirm the good relations between Armenia and its neighbor Georgia, which have strengthened their cooperation since the departure of Georgian President Saakashvili. During his working visit for a day in the Georgian capital, Hovik Abrahamyan met with his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili, with whom he discussed the prospects of enhancing bilateral cooperation, especially in the economic field, as well as several issues of regional and international order.

The stated objective of this brief visit was to address the Georgians, and especially the supporters of the Georgian opposition, as well as Armenians and other peoples of the region, a clear message about the state of relations between the two countries who intend to remain excellent despite the diplomatic discomfort caused by the recent meeting between the President of the Armenian Parliament, Galust Sahakyan, and Anatoly Bibilov, his counterpart from the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which has, like Abkhazia, the political and military support of Russia recognized the independence of both territories in August 2008.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the visit Mr. Bibilov had at the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the mission to observe the parliamentary elections that took place there. This had earned a reprimand from the Ambassador of Armenia in Georgia Yuri Vardanyan, the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Gigi Gigiadze, which had expressed “deep concern” about the meeting in Tbilisi which authorities Armenian had however indicated that it was a “private” character. The Georgian Foreign Ministry had said in a statement that the meeting was against the spirit of friendship which traditionally governs the relations between Georgia and Armenia, and that it violated the bilateral relations.

Similarly, Armenia did not appreciate that his Georgian neighbor does not participate in the ceremonies of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan, the Georgian Parliament has also rejected a resolution on the recognition of this genocide. These incidents do not contribute to facilitate relations between the two neighbors, who chose divergent political and economic policies, Georgia have signed an association agreement with the European Union while Armenia has waived its European Integration rally since January 1st Eurasian Economic Union led by Russia, with which Tbilisi is still latent conflict because of its support for South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The two countries pledged to strengthen their cooperation within the limits of their respective integration processes.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015,
Gari © armenews.com

Georgian nation stands with Armenian people both in sadness and in joy

February 17, 2015 By administrator

David Usupashvili of the Parliament of Georgia

YEREVAN. – The Georgia delegation which is on a two-day official visit to Armenia, and which is led by chairperson David Usupashvili of the Parliament of Georgia, on Tuesday paid a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in capital city Yerevan.

The Georgian delegation was accompanied by National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Vice-Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan, and Vladimir Badalyan, a member of the interparliamentary committee on cooperation between the Armenian NA and the Georgian parliament.

The guests laid a wreath and placed flowers to the monument that eternalizes the souls of the genocide victims, and stood a minute of silence in their memory.

Usupashvili, on behalf of the Georgian people, once again expressed condolences to the Armenian nation in connection with the tragedy that occurred 100 years ago.

“We need to do everything so that such tragedies not solely do not repeat, but there would be no wars, and peace reigns in the world,” the Georgian parliament leader said.

David Usupashvili added that the Georgian nation stands with the Armenian people both in sadness and in joy.

Bundestag president says entire Europe is aware of Armenian Genocide

February 14, 2015 By administrator

Georgian diocese, Armenian Church met with the president of Bundestag president,

The head of Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church met with the president of Bundestag, Professor Norbert Lammert on Friday.

The meeting was held on the initiative of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Mr. Ortwin Hennig, at the Embassy of Germany in Georgia.

High-ranking clergymen representing Georgian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, German Lutheran and Evangelical Baptist Churches, Chief Rabbi of Jewish community, the spiritual leader of Yazidi community and, of course, the Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, attended the meeting.

The president of Bundestag and other high-level guests inquired about the religious tolerance in Georgia and the mutual cooperation among Christian, Islamic, Jewish and other religious communities.

The Primate of the Diocese presented the history of the Armenian Church and Diocese in Georgia and raised main concerns of the Church and community.

The Primate highlighted that despite difficulties, the mutual cooperation among religious communities continues. As for the cooperation with Georgian government – the Diocese anticipates to resolve the issue of restitution of its historical churches.

Professor Norbert Lammert asked the Primate about the mutual relations between Armenian and Islamic communities and between Armenians and Turks in Georgia in view of the approaching 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The president of Bundestag noted that the entire Europe is aware of the genocide against Armenians committed hundred years ago and carefully observe Armenian-Turkish relations; all the Armenian communities plan to hold commemorative events related to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. High-level guests also inquired about how many refugees Georgia accepted during the genocide

His Grace thanked Professor Norbert Lammert for his attention to the great pain of Armenian people and said that despite historic events, Armenian and Islamic communities in Georgia coexist peacefully. He noted that nearly one third of Armenians in Georgia are the descendants of the Armenian genocide victims; Armenian community plans to hold events dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and thus to speak out for justice. The primate also thanked Georgian authorities and all religious communities, who always support Armenian community and share its grief.

The statistic data on mixed ethnic marriages and multicultural cooperation was discussed as well.

Armenia’s premier, Georgia’s president have a talk

December 12, 2014 By administrator

Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has a talk at the Georgian leader’s residence.

Armenia’s premier conveyed to Georgia’s leader his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation to attend a commemoration ceremony in Yerevan to mark the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The private talk was followed by a working sinner with the Armenian delegation’s participation. The sides discussed cooperation in transport communication, energy, tourism.

Chief of Joint Staff of Georgia’s armed forces on visit to Armenia

November 24, 2014 By administrator

Chief of the Joint Staff of Georgia’s Armed Forces, Major-General Vakhtang Kapanadze arrived in Armenia on Monday at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Yuri Khachaturov.

The sides discussed prospects of Armenian-Georgian cooperation. They made a high appraisal of the bilateral military cooperation, which, they stressed, not only improves efficiency, but also strengths regional stability. The sides reached a number of agreements on expansion of bilateral cooperation.

Georgian Foreign Minister Resigns

November 5, 2014 By administrator

By RFE/RL’s Georgian Service
Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze has resigned a day after Defense Minister Irakli Alasania was dismissed, revealing growing rifts in the ruling coalition two years after it rose to power.

Panjikidze announced her resignation on November 5 and said she was quitting the Georgian Dream coalition as well as Democratic Georgia, a party founded by former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and now chaired by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

“As we see that not only our future activities but also achievements we have made so far are endangered, we decided to [resign],” Panjikidze, whose four deputies also quit, said at a news conference.
Garibashvili dismissed Panjikidze’s ally Alasania on November 4, hours after the defense chief called recent arrests and charges against military brass an “attack on Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic choice” — a reference to NATO and EU aspirations in Georgia — and said they were “obviously politically motivated.”

The state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Aleksi Petriashvili, who is a member of Alasania’s party, resigned on November 4 after Alasania’s dismissal.

WATCH: Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze announces her resignation from the government, following the firing of Defense Minister Irakli Alasania the previous day. She warns that Georgia’s pro-Western course is in danger.
The shakeup raises the prospect of new political instability in the Caucasus nation, a foe of Russia and a conduit for Western-bound energy supplies from the Caspian Sea, and could cause concern in the United States and the European Union.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Norland urged all parties in Georgia to work “towards stability, unity, demonstrated commitment to due process and the rule of law, and public confidence in democratic institutions,” and to “focus on future for the country that is firmly anchored in Euro-Atlantic institutions.”

Speaking to the media on November 5, Norland said that there were “legitimate” concerns the judicial system is being used in “a politicized way.”

Alasania, whose Free Democrats party is part of Georgian Dream, said after his dismissal that the country was in political crisis and urged efforts to avoid deepening the divisions.

He said that he “absolutely” did not see the coalition in its current configuration in the next parliamentary elections in 2016.

Billionaire tycoon Ivanishvili upended Georgian politics by leading Georgian Dream to victory over longtime President Mikheil Saakashvili’s ruling party in 2012 parliamentary elections.

He served as prime minister before handing the reins to Garibashvili in November 2013.

There have been signs of growing rivalry and discord, including a war of words between Garibashvili and President Giorgi Margvelashvili in September.
Alasania’s firing came after five current and former senior military officials were arrested late last month on suspicion of misspending more than $2.3 million in state funds and three army medical officers were charged with negligence that led to the food poisoning of hundreds of servicemen last year.

Speaking to Georgian journalists in Vienna on November 4, Margvelashvili said there was a “crisis” in the Georgian Dream coalition.

He said “political confrontation” posed a “threat to the efficient functioning” of Georgia’s state institutions and to closer integration with Western structures.

Alasania is married to a sister of Panjikidze.

Both had held their positions since Georgian Dream formed a government in October 2012 after defeating Saakashvili’s United National Movement.

Georgian Dream’s victory was fueled partly by accusations that Saakashvili had abandoned the rule of law, but the current government has faced similiar accusations.

The United States has repeatedly urged it to avoid using the justice system as a political lever.

Last week, U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki stressed “the importance of due process and rule of law and of conducting investigations with transparency to avoid even the perception that the judicial system is being used for political retribution.”

Panjikidze said that her four deputies — Davit Zalkaliani, Tamar Beruchashvili, Davit Jalagania, and Vladimer Gurgenidze — also resigned.

Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II Church “Georgia and Armenia are Christian oasis in the Muslim world”

September 27, 2014 By administrator

Catholicos-Patriarch Elijah II (Ilia II) Georgian Orthodox Church-which come down of a Georgian family who have family ties with the royal family Bagratides- during a meeting with members of the Armenian community of Georgia on September 26 said that Georgia and Armenia are Christian oasis in a Muslim world.

“These are difficult times (…) Armenia and Georgia are Christian oasis living in a Muslim world. I remember my meeting with the Pope at the Vatican. He took an atlas and observed the geographical position of Armenia and Georgia. Then he said that Armenia and Georgia have relatively complicated geographical locations and they are Christians oasis. Therefore, we must be especially vigilant mutually “said the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church Elijah II.

He also reminded that during his meeting with the Catholicos of the Armenian Church Karekin II, he warned Armenia that had a hostile attitude to Georgia to face the UN and other international organizations. “I told him that we should not have such an attitude, we must speak with respect. I hope that you understand the risks of our descents. If it’s good for Georgia, it’s good for Armenia. And vice versa. We must defend our relations, “said the Patriarch of the Georgian Church. This procedure follows much opposition among members of the Georgian and Armenian Church.

Krikor Amirzayan

Azerbaijan is silent about the heroin highway with Georgia

September 5, 2014 By administrator

Even in the best case, the Azerbaijani government is not very talkative. But his silence with stone walls after its neighbor Georgia has triumphantly confiscated heroin on the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan for a value of approximately $ 175 million has raised questions about the reasons for his reserve.

On July 11, the Georgian Border Police found a record 2.79 tonnes of liquid heroin inside 93 containers of 30 kg of laundry by hand carried by truck between Azerbaijan and Georgia. A video released by the Georgian Interior Ministry shows that the containers were carrying Georgian flags and the words “Clean Georgia”. The cargo truck was slightly fuzzy name “Go” or “G3” and marking “Internationale Spedition.”

In a statement on 25 July in a Georgian parliamentary committee, the Georgian Interior Minister Aleksandr Chikaidze said the cargo belonged to the Taliban in Afghanistan, has he alleged, had financed his expedition to Europe reported the news magazine Tabula. Two Georgian citizens were arrested in connection with the shipment.

Chikaidze had earlier stated that the goods had traveled from Afghanistan through Iran to Azerbaijan, and was headed to Turkey and to Europe. Citing an ongoing investigation, he declined to comment further.

The status of Azerbaijan and Georgia as part of a corridor of narcotics from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe was established Both countries cooperate with the United Nations and the Drug Enforcement Administration United States (DEA) to take action against international trafficking networks.

During the first nine months of 2012, the latest year for which information is available, Azerbaijan has confiscated a total of more than 654 kg of drugs, according to the American State Department, citing data from the Azerbaijani government.

This record-which past earned praise from the State Department – calls Azerbaijanis to wonder how the heroine managed to pass the Azerbaijani border control and Georgia.

But the Azerbaijani officials do not speak.

In comments to EurasiaNet.org, the spokesman of the service control borders of Azerbaijan Elhan Nagiyev said his agency had “no information” on the liquid heroin seizure at the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia. “The Georgian law enforcement bodies do not catch us” to help for this mission, he added.

The Spokesman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Security also refused to comment.

However, an expert on local drug believes that the Azerbaijani government to cooperate with the Georgian authorities on this drug bust.

“These operations are under preparation for months and involve a network of secret agents,” said Mazahir Efendiyev, national coordinator of Azerbaijan for the Drug Enforcement Program in the South Caucasus of the United Nations.

Citing unnamed government sources, the pro-opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat alleged that the Georgian Interior Minister Chikaidze discussed details of the operation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Chief border control Elchin Guliyev during an official visit from 13 to 16 May in Baku.

At the time, Azerbaijani media reported that Chikaidze had discussed “border issues.”

If the Yeni Musavat newspaper report is correct, some observers wonder why Baku does not recognize his public success with Georgia.

The 2014 Report of the International Narcotics Control Strategy of the State Department of the United States estimates that “up to 11 tons of narcotics”, largely from neighboring Iran, traveling through Azerbaijan every year. Turkey tightens border controls, Azerbaijan could become a “transit country increasingly favored for drugs’ has set the report.

The new drug liquid heroin seized by Azerbaijan and Georgia would serve to reinforce the message that Baku is taking this threat seriously.

But Efendiyev says that maybe Baku decided to stay quiet to let Georgia, “a friendly country”, earning the spotlight and improve its own domestic political prestige. The announcement of Tbilisi on heroin seizure took place two days before the local elections in Georgia, a vote that the Georgian Dream coalition government won.

Ex-intelligence officer against Arastun Orujlu, director of the Center pro-East-West opposition research, sees another possible reason for the silence of Baku.

“The service control or customs border of Azerbaijan are not doing their job properly or. . . these owners [these drugs] have strong friends in these organs “assumed Orujlu.

The National Council of Democratic Forces, a unit of the largest opposition parties of Azerbaijan, echoed that claim, condemning the government for failing to say anything about the seizure of heroin, but to make announcements “very strong” on the arrest of “civil society activists on false possessions of drugs.”

The government has not responded. Efendiyev has rejected any discussion on the links between drug traffickers and Azerbaijani officials, noting that the country has confiscated “over 10 tons” of drugs since 2007.

Yet despite this vigilance, has he added, “of course, the regional drug lords have their presence in the country.”

The American Embassy in Baku did not respond to requests for comment on a possible role by the American DEA in detecting sending liquid heroin.

The State Department wrote in its report “International Narcotics Control Strategy” that the DEA, who trained the employees of the Azerbaijani State anti-narcotics work, “contributed to that Azerbaijan continues Organizations international drug trafficking in 2013. “

He noted that Baku has provided “extraordinary cooperation” in the fight against drug trafficking, and said he expects “that this support will continue.”

Editor’s Note:

Shahin Abbasov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.

Eurasianet

Georgia will ask for NATO membership, says president

September 4, 2014 By administrator

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili says his country will ask for NATO membership at the alliance’s upcoming summit in Britain.

Margvelashvili said in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London that “We will shoot for an invitation for NATO membership” but added that Tbilisi understood “[such] decisions are made in a much more complicated way.”

NATO said earlier this year it would not expand its membership at it summit in Wales, which begins on September 4.

But it said it will offer Georgia a “substantive package” of cooperation that would help it move closer to the alliance.

Georgia lifts visas for Armenia

August 26, 2014 By administrator

Georgian official said his country has lifted visa requirements for 24 countries, including Armenia.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministry approved the list of 94 states the citizens of which will not need a visa for traveling to Georgia, Gruziya Online reported quoting head of consul department Georgiy Tabatadze.

At the same time, the citizens of the states for which visa is needed will be able to stay in the country for 90 days instead of the previously defined 360 days. In addition, they will have to get visas in the diplomatic missions, not on arrival.