AKHALKALAK (A-Info)–As military activities in Georgia escalated following Thursday’s attack by the Georgian armed forces on South Ossetia, there is relative calm in the mainly Armenian-populated region of Samtskhe-Javakheti in southern Georgia bordering Armenia.
The Georgian government has ordered all draft-age individuals to not leave the country.
According to unofficial sources, 12 Armenian officers from Akhalkalak and Ninidzminda have left for the military zones, while the entire police departmen’s of Aspindza and Akhaltskha have moved to Tbilisi.
Turkish construction experts and contractors working on the Kars-Akhalkalak-Baku railway have fled the country in a panic and have returned to Turkey.
The Tsalka portion of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is being protected by special military forces.