Land scandal gains momentum in Georgia
The action takes place on the Georgian-Turkish border. Recently it became known that part of the country’s territory was somehow ceded to Turkey. The first to know about this were the residents of the Adjarian village of Karnati. The peasants who went out to work in the field were stopped by the sudden appearance of Turkish border guards with service dogs. The border guards were shocked by their claim that they were working on Turkish soil, and the peasants were asked to leave.The Kirnatians began to seek the truth from the authorities, but in vain. In one instance, they shrugged their shoulders, in the other they advised to turn to Tbilisi, and in the third they were almost accused of violating the state border. To top it all, one of the Georgian TV channels showed the story, having built it as if the residents of Kirnati almost provoked a border conflict with a friendly Turkish state. With the filing of this channel story in this light, spree on the local media.
What really happened in Karnati was undertaken by a low-budget TV company “Objective”. The arrival of a group of journalists and public figures in a small village caused a stir among residents. “From time immemorial, our ancestors cultivated these fields. I worked on them all my life, but now it suddenly turns out that all this time we were plowing and sowing on Turkish soil! ”, One was outraged. The other simply shook: “A hundred people saw how Turkish border guards with dogs came from the other side and told us to leave. And our authorities prove to us that this was not the case. Did Kornati have the same dream? ”
The situation of the residents of the border village is extremely unenviable. Having lost the land on which it was possible to grow primarily corn and potatoes, as well as other agricultural crops, the peasants, by strict account, lost a piece of bread. Given that there is simply no other work here - only agricultural. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the part of the fields for which the Turkish side does not seem to claim, and which at worst could be put into action, will soon be flooded - a hydroelectric power station is being built nearby and a reservoir is needed for its operation. And what a farmer without land? Yes, nothing. The prospect of the residents of Karnati appears very gloomy if the version of one of the representatives of the public, who arrived at the scene together with the staff of the Objective TV company, is confirmed.
According to this man, he knows for certain that former President Mikhail Saakashvili, shortly before his defeat in the elections for a symbolic amount of 1, lari gave way to Turkey’s kirnath fields. On this account, they say, there is even a document, a copy of which he promised to obtain and demonstrate as evidence of the anti-national policies of the previous authorities, who "squandered everything that was possible to suit their goals." What such a dubious deal could give to Mikhail Saakashvili, who donated hectares of land to a neighboring state, is not something that is difficult to understand, but also hard to guess. As well as the motives of such generosity, unless of course it took place. Representatives of the Georgian public are confident that this was indeed the case. Their logic is simple: the Turkish frontier guards didn’t go mad overnight, crossing the border and driving the Georgian peasants out of the fields - they wouldn’t dare to do that if there weren’t enough reasons. And the new Georgian authorities in the face of the “Georgian Dream” keep silent, or even try to shift the responsibility to the residents of Kirnati for one reason - they cannot resist Ankara, and, realizing that they will not be able to play the situation, they decided not to create tension .
“Georgia has no land to lose or donate. If the pain of the residents of Karnati does not become national, the country will simply fall apart, ”wrote Irma Inashvili, the head of Objective, on her Facebook page. In the same place, she said that she had talked with the head of the state border protection agency, Zurab Gamezardashvili, about the problem. Unlike many representatives of the Georgian government, who are trying to assure the public that the residents of Karnati are inflating the story, or that they almost crossed the Turkish border themselves and began to work on other people's fields, Gamezardashvili confirmed the information about the conflict, writes Irma Inashvili, but Turkish border guards with dogs crossed the border and put out peasants, did not speak.
In the expert community, the mood on the Kirnati lands is decadent: if there is an agreement on the transfer of land under the jurisdiction of Turkey (and it seems to exist, because the neighbors would not be so free-will), then returning the fields is unrealistic. However, a number of representatives of Georgian society, outraged by the incident, do not consider the situation hopeless. “It’s just to break the stubbornness of the authorities who don’t want to deal with the consequences of the adventures of their predecessors. And the situation is changing - we will force them to solve the problem of the lands of the village of Karnati. A few days ago, they pretended that they did not understand what they were talking about. Then they began to blame the peasants. And now they are gradually agreeing that the Turkish border guards have crossed the border. The trend is obvious, so we will seek further changes in their position, ”they say. According to the Caucasus Herald, an initiative group is being set up at a public level in Georgia to take care of this issue, and also to find out if a similar story can be repeated in other border areas of the country - Georgia, as is known, also borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. And with all its neighbors, it has small controversial parts of the border, the process of delimitation and demarcation of which has been going on for more than one year and it seems that it is still far from completion.
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