The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, committed a provocation by reposting on social media advertising material from a Georgian tourism company, where lands in the Lori region of Armenia are indicated as “Historic Georgia”. This was stated by the former member of the commission for the delimitation and demarcation of the border between Armenia and Georgia, the former consul of Armenia in St. Petersburg, Vardan Akobian.
He recalled that never during the delimitation negotiations did anyone question the ownership of Lori’s territory. Of course, there were discussions about several kilometers, about which section to draw the border line and how not to violate the interests of Armenian or Georgian farmers. But it was certainly not discussed, for example, who owns the Sanahin monastery complex, Sputnik Armenia quotes Akobian.
The expert did not rule out that Zurabishvili had been pushed to such a provocation by her Western political advisors to provoke a conflict between Georgia and Armenia, especially taking into account the attitude of the West towards the current Georgian government. In fact, the West now wants to destabilize the South Caucasus and aggravate relations between the countries of the region. But it is possible that such an act by Zurabishvili is aimed at gaining political points in the eyes of local nationalists, Akobian believes.
On the other hand, the expert explains Zurabishvili’s antics by his origin. His ancestors were Georgian Mensheviks who had territorial claims to the Republic of Armenia in 1918-1920. Perhaps the president’s expansionist attitude is due precisely to this fact, Akobian added.
This is the second time recently that Zurabishvili has attempted to provoke a conflict with neighboring Armenia. After the victory of the Georgian Dream in the October 26 elections, a disgruntled Zurabishvili claimed that tactics known as the “Armenian carousel” had been used in the elections. According to her, this means a situation where the same voters vote several times at different polling stations. Zurabishvili later clarified his wording, noting that perhaps in Armenia this phenomenon is called the “Georgian carousel.”
As reported EADailyGeorgia’s Central Election Commission called the president’s accusations false and aimed at discrediting the country’s electoral system. The prosecution, in turn, demanded that Zurabishvili present evidence of his accusations of electoral fraud, but the president was unable to do so.
