Georgian PM: investigation into Azerbaijan-Georgia border case will never affect strategic partnership
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the ongoing investigation into the Azerbaijan-Georgia border case earlier today. Photo: Prime Minister’s press office.
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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.
Two Georgian officials, former members of the state commission working on the demarcation of Georgia’s state border with Azerbaijan, were indicted and detained yesterday for hiding a map which resulted in the concession of 3,500 ha of Georgian lands to Azerbaijan between 1996 and 2007.
Gakharia says that final conclusions must be made only once the investigation is over.
As you see there are continued attempts (by opposition politicians) to politicise the issue, which is absolutely unacceptable. Everyone must understand that conclusions must be made once the investigation is over. The issue is so important that political speculations may affect the state interests. Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Georgia and the partnership will continue,” Gakharia said.
He stated that neither the launch of the investigation ‘which is completely an internal issue of Georgia’, nor the new circumstances revealed by the investigation ‘which have already been shared with our Azerbaijani colleagues’ will affect the strategic partnership between the two states.
Georgia has already sent the recently surfaced maps to Azerbaijan.
Georgian FM David Zalkaliani says that the government will try to review the preliminary agreements on the border with Azerbaijan made in 2006-2007.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eduard Aghajanyan, the Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister of Armenia, has reacted to ongoing public discussion around the armed conflict between his country and Azerbaijan in the Karabakh region by calling opinions on Georgia supporting the latter country in the war "misinformation".
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Lasha Darsalia says that Azerbaijan has provided no arguments against the 1938 map which was recently obtained by Georgia to resolve border issues between the two states.