Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Armenia’s provocative moves are not limited to its actions against Azerbaijan; as it happens Georgia, another neighbor of this belligerent South Caucasus nation, often finds itself at the receiving end of Armenia's ire.

Not satisfied with its long-standing separatist moves against Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories now under the military occupation, Armenia also attempts to spread separatism in Georgia.

However, Yerevan’s steps toward such goals have not gone unnoticed in Tbilisi. Recent steps by Armenian officials have caused a diplomatic row between Georgia and Armenia.

Georgian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized a meeting of Armenian official and so-called South Ossetian parliament speakers.

Yuri Vardanian, Armenia’s ambassador to Georgia was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry on May 4, Georgian Foreign Ministry reported.

Gigi Gigiadze, the deputy Georgian foreign minister met with Armenian ambassador to express his “extreme concern” over a meeting between Armenian parliament speaker Galust Sahakyan and chairman of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, Anatoly Bibilov.

Gigiadze emphasized that this fact runs counter to the spirit of traditionally friendly relations between Georgia and Armenia, causing damage to bilateral relations.

The meeting reportedly took place in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. News about the meeting was first reported by a press office of the breakaway South Ossetia’s parliament on May 1, saying that Bibilov was in Nagorno-Karabakh to “observe” the so-called "parliamentary elections" in this occupied Azerbaijani land.

Armenian officials have tried to convince Georgian officials that this meeting was “not official”.

Arsen Babayan, an Armenian parliament spokesperson confirmed that the meeting took place, but told Armenian media that this “meeting between Sahakyan and Bibilov was purely of private nature. No official issues were discussed whatsoever. A meeting between private individuals has nothing to do with political positions.”

Gigiadze expressed his confusion at reports over the alleged informal character of the meeting underlining that Georgia considers such a move totally unacceptable.

The Armenian ambassador expressed regret over the case and said he would immediately convey Georgia’s position to Yerevan, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

The Georgian government wasn’t satisfied with the explanation given by some Armenian officials. Thus, Irakli Garibashvili, Georgia’s prime minister also talked with his Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan about the meeting.

Immediately after the summoning of Armenian ambassador, Garibashvili’s office reported a phone conversation between PMs of Georgia and Armenia took place.

The Armenian premier also tried to convince his Georgian counterpart that no official issues were ever discussed during the meeting.

While his country has been violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan for over two-decades, Abrahamyan reiterated his “unwavering support” towards Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after it laid territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor thus causing a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 were reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.

The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not yet been enforced.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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