Epress.am News from Armenia
Georgian authorities have reached such a level of insolence that Georgian foreign minister Grigol Vashadze in Armenia says that he doesn’t recognize Javakhq, that Javakhq doesn’t exist, said Armenian member of parliament, Javakhq Compatriot Union Chair Shirak Torosyan while speaking to journalists today.
“This is intended to stifle the issues of Javakhq-Armenians,” he said.
According to the MP, Georgia’s third insolent act is that until Vashadze’s arrival in Armenia, issues arose connected with the Upper Lars checkpoint. [Editor’s note: Vashadze and Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian noted that the issues were technical and they had been resolved.]
Co-chair of the unregistered Georgian political party “Virk” Davit Rstakyan, in turn, said that Vashadze’s statement shows that Javakhq-Armenians don’t exist.
“So I don’t exist? Javakhq-Armenians don’t exist?” asked Rstakyan rhetorically.
Another participant in today’s press conference, Yerkir Union of NGOs for Repatriation and Settlement Chair Sevak Artsruni, said that Vashadze’s statement was a specific step, a message, directed toward Javakhq-Armenians saying that they no longer exist.
According to Artsruni, Vashadze has stated numerous lies this year and what he said in Armenia wasn’t the first lie.
“For example, in France, Vashadze said that Vahagn Chakhalyan is in prison, since he is a Russian agent, then later, the ambassador there [presumably in France] says that Vashadze hasn’t understood the issue well,” he said, noting that the Georgian ambassador essentially confirmed that Vashadze was lying.
Asked by Epress.am whether Vashadze assumed that he wouldn’t receive such a response from Armenian authorities and from Javakhq, Shirak Torosyan said: “Of course, Vashadze had that assumption and took a corresponding step, [he] closed [Upper] Lars [checkpoint] and came. And here he said that now, with one call, the issue will be resolved. And while Vashadze was here [in Armenia], the checkpoint re-opened.”