Prosecutor’s Office launches investigation into Georgia-Azerbaijan border deal ‘against Georgia’s interests’
Georgia and Azerbaijan are working together for demarcation of the state border. Photo: Associated Press/Shah Aivazov.
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The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has announced the launch of an investigation into the alleged unlawful giving of land to a foreign state.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that the investigation has been launched according to information provided by the country’s Defence Ministry on August 17, 2020, referring to the activities of the Georgian, governmental commission working on the demarcation of the Georgian border with Azerbaijan.
Based on the information, several sections of Georgia’s state border with Azerbaijan were agreed on improperly, against the interests of Georgia,” says the Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation will also look into the activities of several experts working on the state commission.
In the statement the Prosecutor’s Office did not mention what time period the investigation will look into. However, it allegedly concerns the actions of the border commission under the previous, United National Movement government.
On September 24, 2020 Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said that new map materials found by Georgia may bring about changes to the Georgian-Azerbaijani 2006-2007 agreement on border issues which was made under the UNM government.
The clerics in David Gareji have already been interrogated. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
The third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has called the investigation ‘a cheap Russian operation.’
He said that sections of Georgian territory were given to Azerbaijan under the Soviet Union and ‘during all my meetings with Azerbaijani president I raised the issue of David Gareji,’ the 6th century Georgian monastery complex located at the conditional border with Azerbaijan.
Saakashvili told Mtavari Arkhi yesterday that he was ready to offer some other Georgian territory to Azerbaijan in exchange for David Gareji.
Saakashvili claimed that the negotiations were in the final phase in 2012 when the Georgian Dream defeated the United National Movement in the parliamentary elections and ‘they (the Georgian Dream) disrupted the process.’
He accused the Georgian Dream of ‘extremely deteriorating’ the country’s relations with Azerbaijan, contradicting the statements and actions of Georgian president and the prime minister who arrived in Azerbaijan on their first foreign visits in the posts.
Azerbaijani and Georgian FMs met last week. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991, out of its four neighbouring states Georgia has agreed upon its borders only with Turkey.
Only two-thirds of the state border has been agreed upon with Azerbaijan so far which on several occasions triggered tension in David Gareji last year.
Zalkaliani mentioned the new map materials during the first official visit of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Georgia last week, expressing hope that the border issue will be settled through consensus.
He stated that the materials have already been sent to Azerbaijan for examination.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani says that new map materials found by Georgia may bring changes to the Georgian-Azerbaijani 2006-2007 agreement on border issues. On several occasions, the unagreed border has caused tension around Georgia’s 6th century David Gareji monastery complex which is located at the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani border service has warned of possible provocations ‘by a group of Georgian citizens’ near Georgia’s 6th century David Gareji monastery complex, which is located at the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, who has launched his tour with neighbouring countries by visiting Azerbaijan, has told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the “visit will once again show our allies and friends that there are no problems between the two countries which have not been settled in a friendly and brotherly manner.”
Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has addressed Chairman of the Caucasus Muslim Board, Sheik-ul-Islam Allahshuqur Pasha-zade, to mediate with the ‘brotherly nation’ of Azerbaijan to ‘fairly resolve issues’ in David Gareji as current actions by the country [Azerbaijan] regarding two monasteries in Georgia’s 6th century monastery complex David Gareji are ‘absolutely unclear.’
Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani said Georgia has come up with solid arguments to talk about the disputed area of David Gareji monastery complex in the framework of the Georgia-Azerbaijan joint border commission.
Two former members working on a state commission charged with demarcating Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan have been detained earlier today by the country’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor’s Office claims that the detainees hid an original map issued in 1937-38 and instead used other maps based on which the border sections between the two countries were agreed ‘against the interests of Georgia and history.’ The detainees are the head of the department for border relations with neighbouring countries of the Ministry of Foreigh Affairs of Georgia Iveri Melashvili and a senior inspector in the border protection department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Natalia Ilichova.
Civic activists and opposition politicians gathered in front of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tbilisi to protest the detention of two former members of a state commission that worked on demarcation of a border between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated earlier today that Azerbaijan ‘has been and will remain a strategic ally and a friend of Georgia’. "Neither the launching of the investigation… not the fair process of finding solutions, within which we will try to review the preliminary agreements related to the demarcation of the border, will damage our bilateral relations”, he said.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has stated that the ongoing investigation into the Azerbaijan-Georgia border case will never affect the strategic partnership and friendly relations between the two countries, urging politicians to refrain from politicising the issue.
The Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze says that the investigation must reveal whether the previous United National Movement was involved in the concession of 3,500 ha of land to Azerbaijan under the party’s leadership, including the territories of Georgia’s 6th century David Gareji monastery complex.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that Georgia-Azerbaijan made no border agreement when she served as Georgia's foreign minister between 2004 and 2005, under the United National Movement leadership.
Georgian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers David Zalkaliani and Jeyhun Bayramov held a phone conversation yesterday. The Azerbaijani foreign ministry has reported that the ministers ‘exchanged views on the latest situation in the region, as well as prospects for cooperation in various fields on the agenda of bilateral relations’.
Money has been collected to fully post bail for Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova, who are charged in the Georgia-Azerbaijan ‘land forfeit’ high profile case, the civic movement Sirtskhvilia (Geo. Shame) stated yesterday after the release of the suspects.