President Zurabishvili: new political format is needed on Georgian conflict issues

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that a new political format should be created regarding the country’s conflict issues, as existing formats are ineffective to discuss and respond to the severe problem of the occupation.

The president’s press office says that work on the new format has been launched and claims that it will not be used as an alternative to any of the existing formats.

However, the president believes that the Geneva International Discussions [on Georgian conflict issues] no longer responds to the needs Georgia has in this regard,” Khatia Moistsrapishvili, the president’s spokeswoman, says.

De facto authorities of Abkhazia clam that Kvaratskhelia committed suicide on March 10 in an interrogation room. 

Moistsrapishvili states that the recent death of Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia in unclear circumstances in the Georgian occupied Abkhazia region has particularly revealed the need for a new political format. 

Speaking about the death Moistsrapishvili stated that the “kidnaping and murder” of Kvaratskhelia is a blatant violation of international law and is a crime committed against the Georgian state.

Zurabishvili starts all her official meetings with the issue,” Moistsrapishvili said.

• The Geneva International Discussions, launched in 2008 to address the consequences of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war is the only existing international format discussing Georgian conflict issues with the participation of central Georgia government, the de facto leaderships of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, Russia, the US, the UN, the OSCE and the EU.
• There is a meeting format between Georgian Special Envoy to Russia Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin on trade-economic issues, known as the Prague meetings.
• The Gali and Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism Meetings (IPRM) are mainly focused on local humanitarian issues.