Foreign Minister hosts children living near occupation line for Old New Year celebrations

Children living near the occupation line in Georgia have celebrated Old New Year together with Georgia’s Foreign Minister yesterday.

Mikheil Janelidze hosted 56 children at the Foreign Ministry building in Tbilisi, where a special program entertained the kids from the Shida Kartli region.

Photo: MFA of Georgia. 

Shida Kartli is where Russian occupation forces have erected barbed wire fences to limit the movement between Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) and the rest of Georgia. People residing in nearby villages get fundamental human right violated on a daily basis.

Was very glad to host children living near the occupation line #Georgia and celebrate with them #OldNewYear at the @MFAgovgepic.twitter.com/Nah4sAONg5

— Mikheil Janelidze (@JanelidzeMkh) January 14, 2017

"I’m very happy to host these very special guests and share the happy minutes with them,” the Minister said.

"We are very well aware of the difficulties these children face because of the occupation. The Government of Georgia works around the clock to solve this problem with the help of the international community”.

Photo: MFA of Georgia. 

At the end of the Old New Year program, the children received presents collected for them by Georgia’s Consulate and Georgian diaspora of New York.

Photo: MFA of Georgia. 

Georgia is among a number of countries celebrating the second New Year’s Eve date at midnight on January 13-14.

The celebration is a custom remaining from the historical era when New Year was marked according to the Julian calendar, which was substituted internationally in 1582 by the current Gregorian calendar.