My Trip to Tbilisi: The Armenian-Georgian Disparity
12:52, July 16, 2012
By Arsen Barseghyan
I had the opportunity to take a trip to Georgia. I had been informed of what I would encounter but what I witnessed, the differences I came across were a sad reality check.
Let’s start from the Bagratashen border crossing. To put things into positive perspective, we’ll say that the Armenian side was under construction.
On the Georgian side, the smell of civilization was long apparent. As I approached the checkpoint I was surprised to see the officers make all the passengers get out of their cars while they ran their security measures and the people actually walked over to the checkpoint. Though this was an odd revelation, we wanted to follow order so we did as we were told. Once we walked over to the checkpoint window, the young officer asked to see our passports.
To be honest, I thought that the passports would have to be run through some machine that would deface the cover, but it was just a scanner they used. In other words, we crossed over to the Georgian side and entered Sadakhlo.
The border patrol, realizing that we were crossing over from Armenia, warned us that there is no need to get out of the vehicle, rolling the windows completely down would suffice. They asked the driver to collect and hand over all the passenger’s passports. The civilized border patrol read our names out loud, photographed a portrait picture, scanned the photos into the computer and wished us a good journey.
Our return was a more ridiculous situation. We received the same civilized behavior at the Georgian border and the same contemptuous attitude on the Armenian side. Except this time, a more ludicrous scenario took place.
Before leaving the Armenian side of the checkpoint, a big-bellied officer felt appropriate to open the doors and trunk of our car and perform a thorough search.
Honestly, at first I didn’t comprehend his actions and I wanted to grab this man by the hand and take him to the police station for his act. But when I observed my surrounding and realized that numerous men in uniforms were performing the same act and that all patrons deemed this a normal procedure I calmed down.
I almost believed that I was the irrational one in this situation when in reality he was the one not in accordance with RA laws.
If I am not mistaken, these actions, which I described based on the employee’s given description, qualify as a ‘search’ and in order to for a ‘search’ like this to take place, one needs a special verdict from court. If the customs legislation provides otherwise and I don’t know about it, please state the information or help me give a name to the action performed by this officer.
Anyway, another thing that caught my eye at the Armenian side of the checkpoint was a sign stating, “Importing used tires is strictly prohibited.” I was confused as to whom this sign was directed towards; the laborers who work in retail or the ordinary citizen. After some thought, I don’t think it would be directed towards ordinary citizens because they do have the right to import non-prohibited items to Armenia for personal use, even used tires. After seeing this nonsensical statement, can you tell me why we shouldn’t be jealous of Georgia?
Georgia was more interesting. In a short period of time it became easy to detect the Georgian police, with the transparent checkpoint windows and those that were nestled alongside the traffic roads. It is one thing to hear and another to witness with your own eyes. When the driver had exceeded the allotted speed limit on the road the Georgian police just warned the on-coming driver about the speed limit through the loudspeaker, told him to slow down, the driver willingly obliged and the officer went about his business.
When I try to imagine a similar scenario in Armenia, actually I don’t need to imagine- I’ve been witness to situations where the driver is not exceeding the speed limit but the officer sees fit to stop the car and an exchange of statements and money takes place. Whether that money ends up in favor of the state or the officer’s pocket isn’t even important after this demeaning state of affairs. In situations with other minor violations that won’t create emergency situations, traffic police are limited to just giving our warnings.
When we accidently violated a traffic law (in Georgia) because we were lost and seemed unable to find the highway, the police officer stopped our car, immediately greeted the driver using his last name, and offered his help. He accompanied us to the right highway and didn’t forget to wish us a great farewell.
At first we too were surprised that the police officer immediately knew who the driver was. He explained that at the checkpoint, the car’s license plate and driver’s information is recorded into the computer and that is how he knew. Once again, I was jealous of the Georgians.
Maybe what I witnessed so far from the Georgian government was a predetermined effort of what Georgians wanted us to witness but in compliance with the sentiment of jealousy towards Georgians, my eye caught other things…
My overall impressions aren’t stemmed from the population’s social conditions, whether it’s better or worse than ours. But two factors definitely caught my attention. Their eyes were not full of sorrow like the Armenians, they didn’t show any disappointment of this harsh lifestyle, and they were not filled anger caused by lies constantly being fed to them.
And the Georgian drivers, who by the way were driving to Tbilisi at an average speed no less than 90-100 km/hr, amazed me with their practice of yielding when other cars came in the way and not hitting the horn at every chance they got.
With this detail in mind, I asked how often cases of crime and accidents took place in Georgia and received “rarely” as a response.
Let us learn at least this much from the Georgians…
(Translated by Sanan Haroun)
Source >>>
Русскоязычной версии материала на сайте нет.
За то, есть такой:
Новая серия гонений в Джавахке: в Ахалкалаке задержан местный житель Георгий Мхчян
июня 25, 2012
Минувшлей ночью был задержан житель Ахалкалака Георгий Мхчян. Следственная служба министерства финансов Грузии обвиняет его в подделке документов - якобы Георгий решил присвоить находящееся в центре города трехэтажное строение площадью 1.100 кв.м с прилегающим к нему земельным участком. Мхчяну грозит лишение свободы от 4 до 7 лет.
By Arsen Barseghyan
I had the opportunity to take a trip to Georgia. I had been informed of what I would encounter but what I witnessed, the differences I came across were a sad reality check.
Let’s start from the Bagratashen border crossing. To put things into positive perspective, we’ll say that the Armenian side was under construction.
On the Georgian side, the smell of civilization was long apparent. As I approached the checkpoint I was surprised to see the officers make all the passengers get out of their cars while they ran their security measures and the people actually walked over to the checkpoint. Though this was an odd revelation, we wanted to follow order so we did as we were told. Once we walked over to the checkpoint window, the young officer asked to see our passports.
To be honest, I thought that the passports would have to be run through some machine that would deface the cover, but it was just a scanner they used. In other words, we crossed over to the Georgian side and entered Sadakhlo.
The border patrol, realizing that we were crossing over from Armenia, warned us that there is no need to get out of the vehicle, rolling the windows completely down would suffice. They asked the driver to collect and hand over all the passenger’s passports. The civilized border patrol read our names out loud, photographed a portrait picture, scanned the photos into the computer and wished us a good journey.
Our return was a more ridiculous situation. We received the same civilized behavior at the Georgian border and the same contemptuous attitude on the Armenian side. Except this time, a more ludicrous scenario took place.
Before leaving the Armenian side of the checkpoint, a big-bellied officer felt appropriate to open the doors and trunk of our car and perform a thorough search.
Honestly, at first I didn’t comprehend his actions and I wanted to grab this man by the hand and take him to the police station for his act. But when I observed my surrounding and realized that numerous men in uniforms were performing the same act and that all patrons deemed this a normal procedure I calmed down.
I almost believed that I was the irrational one in this situation when in reality he was the one not in accordance with RA laws.
If I am not mistaken, these actions, which I described based on the employee’s given description, qualify as a ‘search’ and in order to for a ‘search’ like this to take place, one needs a special verdict from court. If the customs legislation provides otherwise and I don’t know about it, please state the information or help me give a name to the action performed by this officer.
Anyway, another thing that caught my eye at the Armenian side of the checkpoint was a sign stating, “Importing used tires is strictly prohibited.” I was confused as to whom this sign was directed towards; the laborers who work in retail or the ordinary citizen. After some thought, I don’t think it would be directed towards ordinary citizens because they do have the right to import non-prohibited items to Armenia for personal use, even used tires. After seeing this nonsensical statement, can you tell me why we shouldn’t be jealous of Georgia?
Georgia was more interesting. In a short period of time it became easy to detect the Georgian police, with the transparent checkpoint windows and those that were nestled alongside the traffic roads. It is one thing to hear and another to witness with your own eyes. When the driver had exceeded the allotted speed limit on the road the Georgian police just warned the on-coming driver about the speed limit through the loudspeaker, told him to slow down, the driver willingly obliged and the officer went about his business.
When I try to imagine a similar scenario in Armenia, actually I don’t need to imagine- I’ve been witness to situations where the driver is not exceeding the speed limit but the officer sees fit to stop the car and an exchange of statements and money takes place. Whether that money ends up in favor of the state or the officer’s pocket isn’t even important after this demeaning state of affairs. In situations with other minor violations that won’t create emergency situations, traffic police are limited to just giving our warnings.
When we accidently violated a traffic law (in Georgia) because we were lost and seemed unable to find the highway, the police officer stopped our car, immediately greeted the driver using his last name, and offered his help. He accompanied us to the right highway and didn’t forget to wish us a great farewell.
At first we too were surprised that the police officer immediately knew who the driver was. He explained that at the checkpoint, the car’s license plate and driver’s information is recorded into the computer and that is how he knew. Once again, I was jealous of the Georgians.
Maybe what I witnessed so far from the Georgian government was a predetermined effort of what Georgians wanted us to witness but in compliance with the sentiment of jealousy towards Georgians, my eye caught other things…
My overall impressions aren’t stemmed from the population’s social conditions, whether it’s better or worse than ours. But two factors definitely caught my attention. Their eyes were not full of sorrow like the Armenians, they didn’t show any disappointment of this harsh lifestyle, and they were not filled anger caused by lies constantly being fed to them.
And the Georgian drivers, who by the way were driving to Tbilisi at an average speed no less than 90-100 km/hr, amazed me with their practice of yielding when other cars came in the way and not hitting the horn at every chance they got.
With this detail in mind, I asked how often cases of crime and accidents took place in Georgia and received “rarely” as a response.
Let us learn at least this much from the Georgians…
(Translated by Sanan Haroun)
Source >>>
Русскоязычной версии материала на сайте нет.
За то, есть такой:
Новая серия гонений в Джавахке: в Ахалкалаке задержан местный житель Георгий Мхчян
июня 25, 2012
Минувшлей ночью был задержан житель Ахалкалака Георгий Мхчян. Следственная служба министерства финансов Грузии обвиняет его в подделке документов - якобы Георгий решил присвоить находящееся в центре города трехэтажное строение площадью 1.100 кв.м с прилегающим к нему земельным участком. Мхчяну грозит лишение свободы от 4 до 7 лет.