“There Is Serious Threat to Escalate Controversy between Nations”

Rezo Getiashvili of the Caucasian Environmental NGO Network (CENN) stated unless the Government of Georgia timely finishes the demarcation process of Georgian-Azerbaijan border, other territories might also become arguable.

Getiashvili thinks the Government shall make the ongoing negotiations public.

“I suggest the government to immediately announce which particular perimeter of the border-line is not agreed with Azerbaijan. Total length of the Georgian-Azerbaijan border is 446 kilometers; 300 kilometers of it is already agreed and we have problems with another 146 kilometers. Let the government tell society which particular perimeter is not agreed and start discussion of this problem with scientists, general society and provide the population with true information. It is unclear why they hide this information from people. Hiding the information from the society made it impossible to resolve this problem for a long time. Society did not even know that one part of Udabno Monastery and some other territories also belonged to Azerbaijan based on the soviet time map,” Rezo Getiashvili told the ICK.

“The Alazani River is changing its bed eventually because of ongoing hydrological and hydro-geologic processes there and it makes the border line unclear. Our organization carried out research in the area which proved that there are not any significant problems that can hinder agreement between Georgia and Azerbaijan. Maybe, in this particular place Georgia is losing some territory but Azerbaijan is losing part of its territory in the different place. Unless Georgia resolves this problem immediately, we will face serious problems. There might be some provocation that can escalate controversy between our nations [Georgian and Azerbaijan] that has already become evident lately. Additionally, some other territories might also become arguable. For example, natural heritage, unique place - Oat Bay in Vashlovani Reserved Zone; Alazani River might wash it away this or next year and leave it on the other embankment [Azerbaijan side],” Rezo Getiashvil.

ICK