Georgian Reconciliation Minister highlights common history, traditions, unity with Abkhazians on Abkhazia Day

Thea Akhvlediani, the Georgian State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality, on Tuesday highlighted the unity with Abkhazian compatriots by “common history, culture and traditions” in her remarks on Abkhazia Day.

Akhvlediani welcomed the laying of the foundation for the construction of a church in the yard of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, which will “become a symbol of unity and reconciliation” with Abkhazians and Ossetians, she said.

Photo via Reconciliation Ministry press office

We deeply believe that building trust and peace, reconciliation and development are a non-alternative way to achieve our common prosperity and a better future in the strong European state, for which are intended the Georgian Government’s peace initiatives and the state policy of reconciliation", the Minister noted.

With the blessing of the Catholicos Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church and by the initiative of the “Kananeli Foundation” and Abkhazia war veterans, the three-nave basilica church will be built to commemorate Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians who died in the armed conflicts in the 1990s and during the 2008 August war.