ANALYTICS

Who and why is provoking conflicts in Georgia?

25.05.21 13:55


In recent years, Georgia has been an example of interethnic peace and harmony between various peoples living on Georgian soil. Georgia was also an exemplary country in terms of the protection of investments, including foreign ones - it was even set as an example for other post-Soviet states. And suddenly, under the influence of certain external forces, the former stability began to shake.

 

In 2021, it all began with an exacerbation of the conflict over the construction of the Namakhvani hydroelectric power station on the Rioni River. A common situation that occurs almost everywhere where hydroelectric power plants are being built - different assessments of the degree of environmental impact on the part of supporters and opponents of an investment project suddenly began to acquire a geopolitical coloration.

 

To a pure energy object (necessary for the Georgian economy) provocateurs quite unexpectedly began to weave national and religious factors, incite xenophobia and Islamophobia “out of the blue”. They began to pay attention to the fact that the investor in the construction of the Namakhvani hydroelectric power station is a Turkish company. Then there were provocative rumors that the investor company allegedly "seizes Georgian lands" and "will build mosques in the area of ​​the hydroelectric power station" and other absurd nonsense that has nothing to do with the most important project for the Georgian energy sector.

 

Furthermore. Provocateurs are beginning to specifically translate everyday conflicts in Georgia as "ethnic" and make them large-scale. Such an everyday conflict around a store in Dmanisi was inflated by social networks and provocateurs into a serious confrontation in the small town of Dmanisi in the Kvemo Kartli region. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to settle the situation. But in less than a week - and again, apparently a purely everyday conflict is already inflated as "interethnic" this time in Tbilisi.

 

The youth fight in Tbilisi (which, unfortunately, happens almost everywhere from time to time), as soon as it became known that representatives of different nationalities participated in it, the Armenian and pro-Armenian media immediately began to unwind the Armenian and pro-Armenian media as an "inter-ethnic conflict" between Azerbaijanis and Kurds living in Georgia (according to apparently by the Yezidis).


Moreover, it was the Armenian media that wrote about this fight on the evening of May 23 most of all. It becomes clear what forces are behind the current incitement of interethnic conflicts and destabilization in Georgia. Especially after Naira Hayrumyan's article “The relations of Iran and Georgia with Azerbaijan are under threat” (https://www.lragir.am/ru/2021/05/23/206052/) was published in the lragir publication close to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan .am. We give this material in full:

 

“Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the United States expressed its readiness to lift sanctions at the negotiations on the JCPOA in Vienna, and Iran will negotiate until all points are agreed.

 

The closer the Iranian-American reconciliation is, the more prominent the contradictions between Iran and Azerbaijan become. Azerbaijani newspapers no longer hide anti-Iranian sentiments. The recent incident at the border, when Iranian border trespassers shot two Azerbaijani border guards, was interpreted in Baku as an Iranian attack.

 

Even more, indignation was caused by the words of the head of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament, Mojtab Zonnur, on the situation in the Syunik region of Armenia.

 

“We do not accept any changes in the borders of the region, the territorial integrity of the countries of the region must be preserved. At the same time, we do not accept the deployment of any extra-regional forces near our borders. Therefore, if a decision is made to take away part of the territory of Armenia, and the situation on our borders changes, that is, we will have a new neighbor, this is unacceptable for us, ”he said. Zonnur stressed that the former borders must be fully preserved, "the common border between Iran and Armenia must be preserved."

 

In Baku, this caused angry maxims: photos of Iranian vehicles delivering goods to Artsakh reappeared on the Internet, and Iran was called an accomplice of Armenia. The situation was aggravated by information in one of the Russian sources that 10 Iranian generals visited Yerevan and, allegedly, prevented the signing of a document on border delimitation. In Baku, they openly say that Iran is torpedoing the "Turkic corridor" that Moscow is breaking through for Baku and Ankara.


Iran cannot indifferently and neutrally observe what Turkey and Russia are trying to do with Armenia, the Armenian-Iranian border, and the logistics potential of the region. The Ambassador of Armenia to the Islamic Republic of Iran Artashes Tumanyan during a meeting with the Minister of Road and Urban Development of Iran Mohammad Eslami recently discussed the North-South corridor, which should connect the Persian Gulf with the Black Sea through Iran, Armenia, and Georgia.

 

Recently, the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili visited Yerevan. By the way, it was on the day of the visit that the invasion of the Azerbaijani troops into the territory of Armenia took place. However, Georgian officials in Armenia have expressed interest in the Persian Gulf - Black Sea corridor. Earlier, Georgia rejected the 3+3 platform proposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan. This platform assumes the opening of the "Turkic corridor" through Syunik.

 

It is no coincidence that anti-Turkish sentiments have intensified in Georgia. Today in the center of Tbilisi a large rally is being held against the Namakhvan hydroelectric power station, which is being built by a Turkish company. Environmental actions are so obviously anti-Turkish that the Turkish ambassador to Georgia was forced to react.


Today in Tbilisi there was a mass fight between Kurds and Azerbaijanis. One native of Azerbaijan was killed. And recently, a mass brawl with the participation of Azerbaijanis and Georgians took place in Dmanisi, Georgia, which escalated into riots. Georgia is watching the growing appetites of Turkey and Azerbaijan with great concern. "

 

It immediately becomes clear who is interested in deteriorating relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia and Iran and who is behind the provocations in Georgia. And also who wants to oppose the opening of the Zangezur corridor with absolutely unviable projects like the North-South corridor through Armenia.

 

The Armenian lobby wants to include other geopolitical players in the conflicts it is stirring up in the South Caucasus in order to hinder the existing and actively developing East-West transit corridors with the participation of Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, as well as the Zangezur corridor.

 

For this, the situation in Georgia is deliberately destabilized. In fact, in an article published in a publication close to Pashinyan, they admit in Yerevan that they are the main “beneficiaries” of the conflicts around the Namakhvani hydroelectric power station and in Dmanisi and Tbilisi.

 

Why this is all done is not difficult to guess. It is important for the provocateurs to turn Georgia into a zone of permanent conflicts, and possibly wars, in order to accuse the Georgian statehood of “incapacity”, with the help of external forces to break through the “military corridor” to Armenia. Along the way, naturally, by annexing the Georgian lands to Armenia, first of all, Samtskhe-Jvakheti.

 

Indeed, in the current situation, without the possibility of "external military assistance", Armenia is forced to adhere to the agreements reached, including on the Zangezur corridor. And even the Russian military and border guards stationed in Armenia will have to ensure the normal functioning of the corridor, even with a great "unwillingness". Even if we manage to bring revanchists like Kocharyan to power.

 

Indeed, now, unlike during the First Karabakh War, the supply of the Russian group in Armenia through Georgia is blocked. Armenian nationalists can no longer use Russian troops in their own interests as during the First Karabakh War.

 

If there is chaos in Georgia, then the Armenian provocateurs will do everything so that the "North-South" corridor through Georgia to Armenia and Iran becomes "military". And then, "passing through Georgia" to Armenia, the Russian military group can simply "cut" all existing transit communications along the East-West line and block the Zangezur corridor. This is exactly what the Armenian nationalists are striving for. And to stir up conflicts that can cause destabilization in the entire South Caucasus, they use all their opportunities in Georgia.

 

 

KavkazPlus

 

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