Recently, a provocative video was also posted on the Armenian YouTube channel XRISTIANE_ARMYANE under the also provocative title “Javakhk (Ջավախք) - one of the nine Ghawar (districts) of Ashkhar Gugark of Great Armenia” (https://youtu.be/gGlKvbyOimc), which contains “historical" lies and blatant slander against Georgia.

The very name of the video suggests that Samtskhe-Javakheti or “Javakhk” is only part of the Georgian lands claimed by Armenian nationalists (approximately 1/9 of their claims). Those. it turns out that they generally lay claim to most of Georgia. Considering that official claims have already been put forward on 465 Georgian churches, and the fact that Georgian Abkhazia has already been seized by Armenian nationalists, this is nothing more than an incitement to Georgia.

The screensaver of the video is also eloquent - there the Armenian flag seems to “squeeze out” the Georgian, and against this background, the slogan “Javakhk is Armenia” is written. Those. this is practically the same technique already tested in the history of Azerbaijani Karabakh when claims to foreign lands become a slogan. The Armenian nationalist had the exact same slogan: “Artsakh is Armenia.” What this ultimately led everyone is well aware of.

Meanwhile, at the congress of Dashnaks on the eve of the collapse of the USSR, the “Artsakh” direction of Armenian aggression was chosen with a margin of only one vote compared to the “Javakhk” one. Plans for aggression against Georgia and the capture of Georgian Samtskhe-Javakheti by fomenting separatism among the local Armenian population (descendants of the 1830 settlers) among Armenian nationalists have long existed.

In order to "justify" this aggression, the creators of the provocative video go to a direct historical lie. In particular, they categorically state that "in May 1918, the Turkish army destroyed 43 percent of the Armenian population of Javakhk with tacit support for Georgia." The video also says a blatant lie that allegedly when the Turkish army occupied Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgian troops stood on its border and did not allow Armenian refugees. Hence, the authors of the video “push” the conclusion that, they say, the Georgians are also guilty of the alleged “genocide” of the Armenian population. It follows from the context of the video that the Georgians almost “invited” the Turkish army to destroy the Armenians.

Naturally, all historical facts here are brazenly distorted. The Brest peace by which Soviet Russia in March 1918 ceded to Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki to Turkey, and Georgia became independent only on May 26, 2018, was forced to come to terms with this. However, at the same time, from the Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki and their Adzharia (which also left the Ottoman Empire in the Brest Peace), all civilians who wanted to live in Georgia were freely allowed into the territory controlled by Georgian troops. Including Armenians from Samtskhe-Javakheti.

Perhaps the Armenian nationalists have claims that the Georgian troops did not let in only armed gangs of Dashnak militants, although having surrendered or abandoned weapons, these militants crossed the demarcation line unhindered. But given the fact that in the autumn of 1918, Armenia attacked Georgia and tried to rob Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli from it, such caution of the Georgian authorities is understandable. Moreover, the Dashnaks entrenched in Georgian territory finally betrayed Georgia, which hosted them, and in 1921 raised rebellions, calling for help from the Red Army, which occupied Georgia.

But then in 1918, the mass of Armenians from Samtskhe-Javakheti, under the pretext of supposedly “Turkish danger” (although the Turkish army did not touch the peaceful Armenian population), moved to Tbilisi, Kvemo Kartli and other regions of Georgia. They settled in here quite well (especially after Soviet rule was established in Georgia) and did not want to return to cold Javakheti.

Hence the very 43% reduction in the Armenian population of Samtskhe-Jvakheti. The fact that the population of the region has declined does not mean that it was destroyed. Moreover, among the same Tbilisi Armenians, there are a lot of families who remember that their ancestors moved to Tbilisi, Telavi from Samtskhe-Javakheti (in which their ancestors, in turn, settled in 1830) in 1918.

Further in the video regarding the events of 1918, and even more impudent lie follows. It is reported that supposedly "the Turks, unable to withstand the pressure of the Armenians, retreated after that. Georgia again remembered that" Javakhk "is the territory of Georgia and the inhabitants of" Javakhk "are Georgian citizens, brought their troops there, which caused a conflict with Armenia, and then came Stalin, who supported the Georgian claims. "

We should note that, Turkey withdrew its troops from Javkheti not because it “could not stand the pressure of the Armenians”, but because it was defeated in the First World War and the Brest Peace was annulled by this. The whole territory of the Tiflis province is originally Georgian lands and Georgia occupied them. But the Dashnaks also claimed these territories, which launched aggression against Georgia, which subsequently resulted in the Georgian-Armenian war at the end of 1918. The aggressors were rebuffed and were expelled from Georgian land.

As for Stalin, on the contrary, he sharply increased the share of Armenians in Samtskhe-Javakheti, expelling Meskhetians from there (among whom were both Turks and Muslim Georgians, but this did not save them from deportation). Naturally, nothing of this is said in the provocative video.

Separatism among Armenians in Samtskhe-Javakheti was also facilitated by the fact that here during the years of the USSR a border zone regime was established with direct subordination of the territory of the KGB of the USSR. Then, for many years, a Russian military base existed in Akhalkalaki, on which the separatists nurtured back in the Soviet period had high hopes. And today, this separatist underground is just waiting in the wings.

The appearance of such videos suggests that there is really a danger of a separatist rebellion in Samtskhe-Javakheti and aggression against Georgia in the Karabakh scenario.

KavkazPlus