Georgian officials from the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia are heading abroad to speed up the process of returning the victims of the Abkhazia crisis (1992-1994) back to Georgia.
Minister Davit Darakhvelidze and Deputy Minister Nino Chavchavadze are in Istanbul, Turkey, to meet representatives of the de-facto Government of Abkhazia face-to-face to discuss ways of bringing the bodies of the remaining conflict victims home.
The first meetings between Georgian officials and representatives from the de-facto Government of Abkhazia, which started in October 2013, were successful. In May this year authorities began to excavate graves at Babushera Cemetery following long-time Georgian-Abkhazian negotiations.
On September 20, 1993, during the Abkhaz war, a plane carrying more than 120 people from Tbilisi was shot down while landing at Babushera Airport in Sokhumi. The event happened a few days before Tbilisi lost the battle for Sukhumi on September 27, 1993. The bodies of 31 Georgians who died in a plane crash in Abkhazia have since returned home, 21 years on from the tragedy.
Minister Darakhvelidze said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili believed Georgia would have to spend some money to fast-track the return of other remains. He said dialogue between Georgian and Abkhazian officials was continuing and parties were negotiating how to find the graves of those who were lost during the conflict.
Minister Darakhvelidze said the negotiations were being held with mediation from the Red Cross.
"We will hold meetings in the next three days and inform society about its results after we return. Georgia's position is to fasten the process since the problem has been ongoing for a long time," Darakhvelidze said.