NATO PA President dedicates emotional speech to Georgian victim of occupation
NATO PA president Madeleine Moon visited the occupation line in Georgia last month. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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NATO PA President Madeleine Moon has dedicated a significant part of her speech to Georgian citizen Data Vanishvili, whose home and lands are divided into two by occupation forces in the village of Khurvaleti, eastern Georgia.
Moon said that what she saw in the village last month was “very painful,” and she felt “obliged” to speak about the issue during the NATO PA session yesterday in London.
NATO PA President Madeleine Moon visited Georgia in September. Photo: NATO PA.
She noted that from time to time Russia erects new barbed-wire-fences on the Georgian territory, “totally ignoring” the rights and the needs of the local population.
Russia is dividing Georgia unlawfully. I spoke with a local farmer, who is trapped [in his own house] with his sick wife, and is unable to see family members or work in his own land located on the other side of the barbed wire. What i have seen was very emotional and I promised that I would speak about this disregard, not just international law, but the human beings and their rights,” Moon said.
During the session NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was directly asked by the Slovenian delegation on when Georgia is accepted into the alliance.
Stoltenberg answered that the “timeline is not defined,” but adding that NATO and Georgia have a “very strong partnership,” and the alliance supports the country’s efforts to modernise and strengthen its security and defence institutions.
“We have stepped up support for our close partners, Georgia and Ukraine, sovereign nations with the sovereign right to choose their own path”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated during the joint meeting of the United States Congress in Washington on Wednesday.
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Madeleine Moon says that her recent visit to Georgia made a “big impact on her” and she intends to speak about the country and its problem of occupation during her speech to the assembly later today.
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Madeleine Moon, who is on an official visit to Georgia, met with the Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia earlier today. At the meeting Gakharia and Moon spoke of NATO-Georgia cooperation and the progress that Georgia has made on its path to NATO integration.
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Madeleine Moon, who is on official visit to Georgia, says that cooperation with Georgia is of high importance for the assembly she chairs. She vowed to broadly speak about Georgia’s progress towards NATO during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in October.
Acting President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Attila Mesterhazy said the assembly “has recognised Georgia’s aspiration to join NATO and supports it on its path, particularly through close dialogue and active cooperation" with the Parliament of Georgia.
The occupying forces illegally detained a man and his wife living in the village of Khurvaleti near occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region. Malkhaz Vanishvili, 30, is the grandson of Davit Vanishvili, whose house and agricultural lands are divided in two by occupying forces for several years now.