Guaranteeing the future of Armenians in Javakhk

I would caution on the use of irredentist language concerning Javakhk. Fortunately, the Armenians in Georgia can nurture their language, culture, religion and education, and don’t suffer from overt discrimination, let alone persecution from Georgian officialdom. Georgia and Armenia today have good relations, despite the complications and incidents in the recent past and now defunct mutual land claims, conflicts and wars in the more distant past. Georgia is strategically very important for Armenia, as its land access to the open seas and to the rest of the world. Armenia cannot risk alienating and losing Georgia, if claims of Javakhk come into the picture, even by private citizens or NGOs. Concern for the rights and wellbeing for the Armenians of Javakhk and in the rest of Georgia, and addressing them, is a legitimate right of Armenia, but any irredentist talk is dangerous, first of all for the Armenians living there.

When the ethnic conflicts started with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the reignition of the suppressed nationalisms of the ethnic groups, including in Georgia vis-a-vis Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians suffered massacres and ethnic cleansings, the ramifications which continue up to this day. Fortunately, the Armenians of Javakhk, who diligently remained neutral or loyal, were not sucked into the ethnic conflicts and wars of Georgia, and were literally spared from that horrible fate. Armenia cannot jeopardize its relations with Georgia, which would only result in Georgia becoming a hostile Azerbaijan 2.0, and in the ethnic cleansing of all Armenians from Javakhk and from the rest of Georgia. Georgia is already on the verge of authoritarianism and might reconcile with Putin’s Russia, and in this shi##y neigborhood surrounded by two hostile genocidal neighbors, Armenia must maintain good relations with both Georgia and Iran.