Ethnic Armenians Are Not Eager To Work in Public Agencies

Maka Chinijishvili, Akhaltsikhe, Newspaper “P.S”

The ethnic composition of the population in Akhaltsikhe district is the following: ethnic Georgians make 61, 7 % of the entire population and ethnic Armenians make 36, 59 %. It is most updated data prepared by Jonathan Wilt for his report to the ECMI. According to the census of the statistic department for 2002, 47 % of total 45 948 people living in Akhaltsikhe district were Georgians; Armenians made 42 % and ethnic Russians made 6 %. Based on this data we can suppose the results of elections also rely on this data.

Residents of the region with multi-ethnic population shall work at local public services – like district administration or municipality boards. Ethnic Armenians work in Akhaltsikhe municipality board and district administration however their percentage is not high enough. Only 9 out of total 96 employees of the district administration are ethnic Armenians. Among them one is deputy district governor and five people are village councilors. The rest works as specialists at the administration.

There are 26 members in the municipality board; among them 10 were elected based on their party membership and the rest were single mandate candidates. 9 members of the municipality board are ethnic Armenians.

Ethnic Armenians are less eager to occupy high positions in local government. It has several reasons. One of the most important reasons is lack of knowledge of Georgian language among Armenian population. Although almost every Armenian living in Akhaltsikhe can speak Georgian, it is not enough for public service. After school local Armenians go to Yerevan to get high education. Armenian education does not allow them to work in Georgian public offices.

There is one more real reason for the problem; in order to discover this reason we should pay more attention to it. Owners of the shops and trading centers in Akhaltsikhe are ethnic Armenians. Small business belongs to them and people occupied in the business are not eager to work for the public service. Furthermore, they have more income from the business than from public service.

Vasil Beridze, chairman of the Akhaltsikhe municipality board: “Akhaltsikhe district has mixed ethnicity. Many Armenian people live here. We have 9 members in the board now. Their presence in the board is necessary because they represent Armenian people and inform us about their problems and complaints. My deputy was Armenian person who is very motivated and can occupy any position in public agencies. To tell the truth, we cannot appoint a person on the position only because he represents ethnic minority.”

Ruben Karapetian is a deputy governor of Akhaltsikhe district. He has been working on the position for one year already. He said before occupying this position he had worked at almost every position in the district administration. “I did not have problem of Georgian language. However, I also finished Armenian school. Then I entered law faculty at the Tbilisi State University. I learned like other Georgian students; I attended courses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I think I was not simply lucky; I worked hard and reached this position. If a person wants to start working at the governmental agency, s/he should know state language regardless ethnicity and of course s/he should have corresponding high education too. My Armenian ethnicity has not prevented me from getting employed.”

90 % of ethnic Armenians living in Akhaltsikhe can speak Georgian; however, when they have some problems they apply to Ruben Karapetian; they think he will listen to their problems more attentively.

Ruben Karapetian: “I do not know why local Armenian people prefer to meet me. Everybody will listen to their problems attentively and will assist them if it is possible.”

In Akhaltsikhe district, where almost 37 % of the population is ethnic Armenians, only one person Ruben Karapetian occupies high position in local government. However, Armenian population does not complain about it.

Source: www.regions.ge