Troublesome Borders in the Caucasus
Monday 14 September 2009By EU Reporter Correspondents
Borders in the Caucasus are not renowned for their inviolability; the region hosts three largely unrecognised states existing awkwardly alongside three internationally recognised republics. Even when not contested, the borders between the three South Caucasus republics remain largely un-demarcated, or simply closed. Georgia’s border with Russia has been closed for over a year; both Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan have been closed since the early 1990s leaving both Armenia and Azerbaijan dependent upon Georgia as a corridor to the sea and Europe.
Recently a border dispute broke out between Georgia and Armenia over the demarcation of their mutual 206 km long border, which has never been legally delineated or ratified. An interstate commission under the auspices of former presidents Eduard Shevardnadze and Robert Kocharian succeeded in resolving nothing despite being operative since 1995.
Things came to a head in 2004 when claims were made in the Georgian media that Armenia had taken some 3,812 sq km of ‘historically’ Georgian land. It was alleged that Armenian border guards had advanced their checkpoints 10 km into Georgian territory, the claims were later proven false. The then newly elected President Mikhail Saakashvili attempted to placate tensions stating ‘During the past 2,000 years Georgia and Armenia have not filed territorial claims [against] each other’, adding ‘I think, everything will remain unchanged.’
They did, until last week when Georgian border guards advanced their checkpoints into the Armenian province of Shirak, an area of agricultural significance for Armenia. Koryun Sumbulian the head of the Armenian border village of Bavra complained ‘Georgian border guards hinder Armenian farmers working on their lands.’ There are approximately 10,000 Armenians living along the border.
The moving of border checkpoints came on the back of claims made by local Armenians that Georgia was annexing territory by planting trees and expanding forests along the border. Some Armenian analysts draw a link between recent events and Georgia’s exiting the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), of which Armenia remains a part. A meeting of the respective foreign ministers of Georgia and Armenia saw no official comments on the incidents, merely statements by their respective ministries that the border was currently being demarcated. Despite this the meeting of foreign ministers, Grigol Vashadze and Eduard Nalbandian, was preceded by the arrest of five young Armenians by Georgian authorities, after they had unwittingly stumbled onto the wrong side of the shifting border.
The current border dispute belies much deeper bilateral tensions. On a recent trip to Yerevan President Saakashvili predicted a ‘bright future’ for Armenia and Georgia and urged his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts to resolve Nagorno-Karabagh stressing that ‘the Caucasus needs to unite’ to overcome Russian interference. Grandiose comments aside the visit was otherwise unremarkable.
Whilst Georgian relations with Russia remain antagonistic, Armenia enjoys a cosier relationship with Moscow. Saakashvili however, remains deeply unpopular in Armenia where for weeks after his June visit posters declaring the Georgian president as persona non grata were still pasted to Yerevan street walls.
Armenia is encouraging Georgia to normalise its relationship with Russia and reopen the Upper Lars border crossing, a vital artery linking Armenia, via Georgia, to Russia, closed since last year’s war. Whilst not party to the 2008 conflict, the Armenian economy, which depends upon Georgia as a transit route to the outside world, suffered significantly and encouraged a renewed effort to reopen the border with longstanding rival Turkey, closed since 1993.
Wherever the Georgian-Armenian border finally lies it wouldn’t reflect any ethnic differences. The Georgian province of Javakheti, which borders directly upon Shirak, is home to significant Armenian majority. Javakheti is Georgia’s most impoverished region and many of its young men work seasonally in Russia or have emigrated permanently. The province’s infrastructure and economy is more closely linked with Armenia than the rest of Georgia and despite Georgian government claims to have made significant investments in the region, little has trickled down.
Until 2007 Javakheti’s capital of Akhalkalaki hosted a Russian military base, its closure was heralded in the West as an example of Georgian independence. Yet the base’s closure was deeply unpopular amongst local Armenians for whom it was a major source of employment and a centre of economic activity. Pledges that new jobs would be created with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which runs through Javakheti went unfulfilled, many of the promised jobs were awarded to ethnic Georgians. Many Armenians also saw the Russian presence as protection against neighbouring Turkey.
With the base’s closure came calls by some for local autonomy prompting Georgian fears of Armenian separatism and a series of arrests that have stoked ethnic tensions. In January two young Armenians were arrested for allegedly spying on behalf of Russia, feeding into a stereotype propagated in some corners of the Georgian media that Armenians are seditious and pro-Russian. Ill-informed links are drawn with Abkhazia, still home to a large Armenian community often accused of having supported Abkhazia’s bid for independence in the early 1990s.
The Javakheti Armenians have a long list of complaints. Accusations are made that Tbilisi is attempting to water down the province’s Armenian majority by reattaching Armenian populated districts to adjacent provinces and resettling refugees from elsewhere in Georgia. Even more inflammatory is an agreement between Georgia and the Council of Europe dating back to 2001 which envisages Georgia repatriating the Meskhetian Turks, deported en masse to Central Asia by Stalin in 1944, back to Javakheti. The possibility of the Meskhetian Turks return feeds into historic Armenian fears. ‘How are they going to live with us?’ said a local Armenian woman, ‘they are our old enemies.’
Ethnic tensions are further exacerbated by an upsurge in Georgian nationalism and anti-Russian sentiment following last year’s war. Chauvinism is directed against Georgia’s remaining minorities, nearly a quarter of the population, all of whom are underrepresented in government. Towards the end of 2008 six Armenian churches were appropriated by the Georgian Orthodox Church, colloquially known as Georgia’s ‘biggest political party’. Armenians across Georgia also complain of creeping ‘Georgianisation’, that to get ahead one has to replace the familiar –ian Armenian surname ending with a Georgian suffix like –vili or –adze.
Language is a significant issue. Many government services are no longer offered in Russian, and only rarely in minority languages. Non-Georgian speakers are therefore at a disadvantage, most minorities are likelier to speak Russian as a first or second language rather than Georgian, or even their own. Armenians complain that children suffer discrimination in education, whilst would be students, unable to undertake university entrance examinations emigrate permanently. An Armenian journalist from Javakheti lamented how language legislation was affecting education ‘There were 47 Armenian language schools alongside which they [children] were learning Georgian, now only Georgian. How can these children learn when they don’t speak the language?’ and added ‘we try to tackle our issues, but we are weak against the state.’
The situation of Armenians along the Georgian border is hostage to Armenia’s need for good relations with its northern neighbour as a link to the sea and the rest of the world. Nonetheless there are growing calls for Armenia to take a harder stance concerning the border, Armenian minority rights and church properties. ‘It’s high time for a clear and concise policy toward Georgia, and more important a strategy on Javakhk’ wrote one Armenian communist deploring the recent border disputes and Meskhetian Turks’ resettlement, echoing growing public opinion. Things might change with the possible reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border, which would weaken Armenia’s dependence upon Georgia, but also might create newer problems.
Recently it was also largely reported in European newspapers that three Georgian border guards were murdered by a fourth following a personal dispute. Borders in the Caucasus are renowned for their disputes, even amongst the guards.