Council of Europe Congress President condemns so-called “elections” held in occupied Abkhazia
Verbeek said the Congress had “always shown its unrelenting commitment” to the territorial integrity of member states within their internationally recognised borders, noting the principle was “all the more important” in the context of the ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Photo: CoE.
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The de facto authorities of Abkhazia have “once again” undermined the principle of the territorial integrity of Georgia, forcing this region further into isolation to the detriment of the local population, Leendert Verbeek, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE) said in response to the so-called “parliamentary elections” held in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region on Saturday.
Verbeek said the Congress had “always shown its unrelenting commitment” to the territorial integrity of member states within their internationally recognised borders, noting the principle was “all the more important” in the context of the ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
The CoE official strongly condemned actions undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia as a member state, adding illegal recognitions of independence of territories of member states came “only one step” before further aggression and war, a principle he said had already been known before the Russian invasion in Ukraine last month.
The “vote” organised in Abkhazia on March 12, “instead of strengthening, further erodes stability in this region and is, moreover, the wrong signal at the wrong time”, the statement said.
The de facto authorities of the occupied Abkhazia held so-called parliamentary elections on Saturday. The Georgian Foreign Ministry called the elections a “futile attempt to legitimise the illegal occupation” of the country’s territories, calling on Russia to withdraw its 2008 recognition of the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions as independent states.
The Congress of the Council of Europe is an institution representing local and regional authorities from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Georgia became the 41st member state on April 27, 1999.
Russia has once again proved its plans for “factual annexation” of the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Tuesday.
NATO does not recognise the legitimacy of the elections held on Saturday in the Russian-occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia, Javier Colomina, The NATO Secretary General Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, said on Monday.
Carl Hartzell, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, said the EU did not recognise the legal framework of the so-called parliamentary elections that took place in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region on March 12.
Holding the so-called parliamentary elections in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region is a “futile attempt” to legitimise the illegal occupation of the Georgian territories, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Russia’s war against Ukraine must be stopped, with Europe ensuring “such horror and aggression” never repeats “in our common home”, Irakli Chikovani, MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party said on Wednesday.
The Group of Friends of Georgia at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Friday made a joint statement on not recognising the legitimacy of the so-called “parliamentary elections” held in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region on March 12.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the so-called presidential elections held in Georgia’s Russian-occupied breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on Sunday, saying it was “another illegal act” by Russia aimed against Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Foreign dignitaries have refused to recognise the so-called presidential elections in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on April 10, reaffirming support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Georgia can relate most vividly to the predicament of Ukraine through the ongoing occupation of its own regions by Russia, Givi Mikanadze, a member of the Georgian parliamentary delegation, told the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Wednesday.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Friday welcomed the “continuous and marked progress” made by Georgia in honouring its Council of Europe membership obligations and commitments since 2014, but added a number of shortcomings and concerns remained.
Foreign embassies and dignitaries on Sunday issued condemnations of Russia's ongoing occupation of Georgia's regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) and called on the Kremlin to fulfil its obligations under the European Union-mediated ceasefire agreement by withdrawing forces from the occupied regions on the 14th anniversary of the 2008 war between the two countries.