Parliament Speaker: Georgian nation “showed freedom as primary value” with 1991 independence referendum
The Parliament official said the decision to restore independence had marked the start of the country’s “irreversible pursuit” toward the “free and democratic world”, which he described as Georgia’s “natural place”. Photo: Parlaiment of Georgia.
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The 1991 referendum on Georgia’s independence “proved once again, loudly and firmly”, that freedom is the “primary value” for Georgians, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament, said on Thursday in comments marking the 31st anniversary of the plebiscite.
"Today is one of the most important dates in the history of Georgia”, Papuashvili said while speaking about the historic referendum in which people in Georgia were asked whether they supported the country regaining its independence from the Soviet Union, and supported the move overwhelmingly.
The Parliament official said the decision to restore independence had marked the start of the country’s “irreversible pursuit” toward the “free and democratic world”, which he described as Georgia’s “natural place”.
The Speaker of the legislative body also paid tribute to Georgia’s late first President Zviad Gamsakhurdia on an anniversary of his birth, saying the modern Georgian state was the result of the “selfless struggle” of Gamsakhurdia and his colleagues in the 1990s.
Papuashvili said the contemporary Georgia the national movement leaders of the era had struggled for would become a “united, strong and full member” of the European family.
Prime Minister of Georgia on Thursday paid tribute to the memory of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the late first President of the country.
The March 31, 1991 referendum laid a “solid foundation” for building a modern Georgian state, making an “irreversible move” towards the goal for which many generations of Georgians have struggled and worked, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili said today while marking the 31st anniversary of the 1991 independence referendum.
Today Georgia marks the 30th anniversary of the referendum that led to the country gaining independence from the Soviet Union.
From the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi to the highland Georgian town of Mestia, the country is celebrating Independence Day today, commemorating May 26, 1918 – the day when the Act of Independence was adopted, establishing the First Democratic Republic of Georgia. The main location of the ceremony was Freedom Square in central Tbilisi. However, the ceremony also took place in Svaneti, Adjara, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kakheti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti regions.
Georgia not only wants to join the European Union formally, but the membership is a "historic choice" of the country, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Thursday in a meeting with Belgium's Speaker of the House of Representatives Eliane Tillieux and the Speaker of the Belgian Senate Stephanie D’Hose.