Ruling party, opposition MPs: Georgia on “peaceful path”, not getting into war
Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee Chair Irakli Beraia maintained that the Georgian government would not deviate from its policy of peace. Photo: Parliament of Georgia/Facebook
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The ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition MPs on Sunday asserted the country was on a “peaceful path” and would not get involved in war, following remarks by Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, who said Georgia would “greatly help” Ukraine by opening military fronts against Russia to forcefully regain control over the occupied breakaway Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions.
In his comments, Danilov had also said Georgia was "not behaving very correctly, to put it mildly" in its stance on Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of the country.
But Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, said there was “no justification” for calling Georgia to get involved in war.
It is very important to say that [Georgia’s involvement in war] will not assist Ukraine in any way,” Sarjveladze added.
In his response, Nikoloz Samkharadze, who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed his hope that Danilov’s statement was "fake".
I hope that it [the statement] is fake. Is the National Security and Defence Council Secretary of Ukraine calling on Georgia to deviate from its peaceful policy for restoring territorial integrity by opening the second front, so that our towns and villages would get destroyed and Georgian women and children would die too? Really?” Samkharadze wrote.
The Parliament’s Defence and Security Committee Chair Irakli Beraia maintained that the Georgian government would not deviate from its policy of peace, “no matter who calls for it,” while ruling party MP Giorgi Tsagareishvili called Danilov’s statement a “direct call” to get Georgia involved in the ongoing conflict. He noted the country would remain on a “peaceful path.”
Aleksandre Rakviashvili, an MP from the opposition Girchi party, said he found Danilov’s remarks “morally unacceptable,” adding Georgia would work to solve its problems “only in a peaceful manner.” Opposition MP Paata Manjgaladze, from the Strategy Aghmashenebeli party, also disagreed with Danilov’s statements, saying “Georgia is not in a condition to make such decisions.”
The opposition is trying to “artificially create” a situation to present the Georgian Government as not being in solidarity with Ukraine amid Russian invasion of the latter in an “absurd” attempt, Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights of the Georgian Parliament, told Imedi TV on Friday.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili reaffirmed the Government’s support for Ukraine amid Russia’s military aggression in a letter to Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada, on Saturday.
The methods used by Russia against the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine are the same it used against Georgia 14 years ago, Nikoloz Samkharadze, who chairs the Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Friday.
Georgia will continue to provide political support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people at “absolutely all international platforms”, in addition to ensuring humanitarian assistance, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, said on Wednesday.
The Georgian Government remains committed to the policy of peaceful de-occupation and will resist “all provocations” aimed at escalating a new military confrontation with “our Abkhaz and Ossetian brothers and sisters,” Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Monday.
Zbigniew Rau, the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Poland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia for meetings with officials of the states starting today, the OSCE said.
The citizens living in Georgia’s Russian-occupied territories should know the Government’s position that the country’s territorial integrity can only be restored through peaceful means and not through use of force, Sozar Subari, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, said at a Parliament plenary sitting today.
Irakli Zarkua, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, has called on opposition parties in Georgia to avoid "acting like the fifth column" in the country amid the crisis of the war in Ukraine.
Representatives of the Georgian parliamentary majority would be ready to visit Ukraine after technicalities for a trip to the country are resolved, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Monday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said Georgia getting involved in a war against Russia amid the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine would mean a "destruction" of the country.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the foreign policy course of the Government was “unwavering,” while pointing to “legitimate suspicions” of a part of the domestic opposition having an interest in involving the country in conflict.
Georgia and NATO member states are building a new Euro-Atlantic security architecture together, Irakli Beraia, the Chair of the Committee on Defence and Security of the Parliament of Georgia, said on Wednesday.
Georgia has a 5,000-year history of existence and no-one can rewrite it, Archil Talakvadze, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Tuesday in response to a now-deleted post published on a social media channel of Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev.
Michael Gahler, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday called the “colonial” Soviet Russian empire the “only artificial construction”, in response to a now-deleted post published on a social media channel of Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev that claimed Georgia “did not exist” as a country until its becoming a part of the Russian empire in 1801.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government would “always work” to ensure restoration of its territorial integrity and unification of “sisters and brothers” across the occupation line, but the objective would not be accomplished through war.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday urged the Ukrainian Government to “distance itself” from several of its representatives who he said had “openly revealed their desire” to see Georgia involved in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said the “major goal” of the currently imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return from Ukraine to Georgia in 2021 had been to “spark unrest in the country and overthrow the authorities” to later “drag” Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday accused the “radical wing” of the domestic opposition of “still plotting” to spark unrest in the country following “several failures” in the plan, and told the Parliament the threat of internal destabilisation was one of the “key challenges” the Government was facing.