Armenia spreads conflict from Garabagh to Georgia: what happens in Samtse-Javakheti?

It is impossible to give a logical name to what the Armenians have done in the last few dacades. Provocations, accusations and sometimes pretending to be innocent sheep – all these are of particular character of Armenians. It is possible that ears and eyes always get used to the name of Azerbaijan at first regarding the target of Armenian provocation, but sometimes it can be different. Don’t be surprised if we say that Georgia is the target this time.

So, starting from the 18th century, shadows entwined the South Caucasus after the resettlement of Armenians in the region. They caused not only a thick darkness but also many tragedies and provocations. Unfortunately, this situation continues to this day.

Despite the fact that after the collapse of the USSR, Armenia created its own single state, part of the population settled in neighboring states. One of such regions is the Samtse-Javakheti region of Georgia. Although the majority of the population living there are Armenians, the territory officially belongs to Georgia. However, the Armenians cannot agree with this. The believe that these territories belonged to the Armenians for centuries, and they supposedly consider those territories part of Armenia.

Armenians in Georgia also express mixed opinions about the Armenian minorities living in Azerbaijan’s Garabagh. They even emphasize that they will face the same fate as the residents of Samtse-Javakheti. Thus, allegedly, the Armenians are fighting for the right to self-determination in these territories.

Regarding the matter, Georgian political expert Vakhtang Maisaya told AZERNEWS that it is recurrence of the events in the 90s when Georgia gained independence. Since that time, the question of Samtskhe-Javakheti with Armenian separatism has appeared. They were modeled by the former special services of the Soviet Union, who tried in every possible way to intervene so that Georgia and Azerbaijan would not become independent states.

According to Maisaya, after the independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as those events that took place around Garabagh, or rather the occupation of Azerbaijani territory, the question seemed to disappear. But sometimes this question gave its outlines in specific directions.

“At the moment, I think that some radical Armenian political forces may once again heat up relations already in relation to Georgia, in terms of the fact that Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkiye, and Kazakhstan have created a de facto geo-economic union. Economic friendship in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkiye trilateral format, even in the context of military-political relations, is developing very powerfully and dynamically,” the expert opined.

The Georgian pundit thinks that Moscow, Tehran, and Yerevan in this respect, may develop a tense situation and may become explosive in relation to the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and it is not excluded, taking into account the events that are now taking place around the Lachin road.

“Azerbaijan was able to do what Georgia, unfortunately, has not yet achieved during the 30th anniversary of its Independence. And the question of how the Russian special services can use blackmail in relation to Georgia and in respect to the strategic Union between Turkiye, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. This union has a geostrategic development,” the political analyst emphasized.

In conclusion, the expert noted that the main thing in this situation could be the official Kremlin-Moscow, which could go to the point of disrupting the implementation of the Middle Corridor, which greatly hinders Moscow in the implementation of its own economic projects. In addition, in this regard, Armenia is a hostage to the current leadership of the Kremlin. At any moment, they can use a new trump card to aggravate the situation in the S.Caucasus, given that Russia is actually losing the war in Ukraine.