Georgia marks 101st anniversary of first constitution
The original constitution was approved by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia on February 21, 1921, just a few days before the Red Army invaded the country to turn it into a Soviet republic. The constitution’s historical, political and legal significance has been widely recognised by historians, legal scholars and the wider public, with events marking related anniversaries hosted in recent years. Photo: archive.gov.ge.
Tweet 
Share
The legacy of the constitution of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia, a landmark document approved 101 years ago, was celebrated in the country on Monday by officials and citizens with remarks on the significance of the date for the modern Georgian state.
Among comments marking the annual anniversary, parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said “[the 1921 constitution] was one of the most progressive human rights document, that laid a solid historical foundation in terms of defining Georgia’s political system and foreign policy priorities.”
Today Georgia celebrates the adoption of the first Constitution on 21 February 1921. We bear special responsibility to build upon the legacy of this progressive document highlighting the protection of democracy, rights & liberties as ???????? advances on its European integration path. pic.twitter.com/YdzMIhM0P8
— Shalva Papuashvili (@shpapuashvili) February 21, 2022
Papunashvili highlighted the lasting significance of the historical document by saying “[t]he current version of the Constitution of Georgia is a continuation of the spirit of the first constitution and is the foundation of a free, democratic, European Georgia.”
The 1921 constitution, approved in the third year of the First Democratic Republic, came shortly before the Soviet invasion and annexation of Georgia later that year. However, the significance of the constitution was recognised in 1995, when the newly independent Georgian state modelled its new document on the historical paper.
The original constitution was approved by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia on February 21, 1921, just a few days before the Red Army invaded the country to turn it into a Soviet republic. The constitution’s historical, political and legal significance has been widely recognised by historians, legal scholars and the wider public, with events marking related anniversaries hosted in recent years.
The current constitution, an update on the 1995 version, was approved following a series of public and parliamentary discussions in 2017, to better reflect the country’s current challenges. Read some of the key amendments into the latest version here.