04 February 2005, 23:59
No Greek houses burnt in Georgia recently
Chairwoman of the Georgian parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration Elena Tevdoradze has denied reports that houses owned by local Greeks have been burnt in Georgia's Tsalksky district for the last two weeks. Elena Tevdoradze stated it in her interview with the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "Reports that houses belonging to Greeks have been burnt in the Tsalksky district do not represent the facts. It's possible that such cases have taken place in recent years, but no such cases have been registered recently," Ms Tevdoradze said.
According to Ms Tevdoradze, the situation in the Tsalksky district of Georgia is really tense. "There can be only one way to ease the situation. The state must do everything not to allow people who moved to the Tsalksky district from mountainous districts of Adjaria and Svanetia to enter without permission closed houses belonging to Greeks who left for their native land," she said.
Asked what the reason for the massive migration of Greeks was, the chairwoman explained that the process started in 1990, in the time of former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. The reason for the mass migration of Greeks was in the fear caused by Gamsakhurdia's nationalist policy, conflicts in Abkhazia and South Osetia, and the lack of social conditions for normal life on top of all it.
The Javakhk A-Info news agency reported earlier that relations between Greeks, on one side, and Adjarians and Svans, on the other side, have considerably worsened in Georgia's Tsalksky district for the last few weeks. Over 15 houses and cattle-sheds owned by Greeks were burnt by Adjarians and Svans in different villages of the district in January, the agency stated in the report.
Author: Svetlana Mkrtichan, CK correspondent
