Peaceful restoration of territorial integrity Gov’t’s “main national task” - ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said restoring the territorial integrity of the country was the “main national task” of the Government, in comments over the 31st anniversary of the 1992-1993 war in the Russian-occupied Abkhazia region.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze cited the maintenance of “long-term” peace in the country as the “main result” of the Georgian Dream Government's policy.

“One of our tasks is to avoid war in our country in the most difficult situation, which we have successfully managed in the last year and a half, and I am sure that the processes will continue to develop [this way] in the future”, he said.

Our main national task is to restore territorial integrity in a peaceful way. I really hope that the processes in this direction will develop positively. This is one of our national dreams. I hope this dream will finally come true”, Kobakhidze said.

The party official also said Georgian Dream was the “only Government during which the country has not seen a war”.

We have our own policy, which we follow very strictly. It is a rational, pragmatic policy that allows us to achieve specific results, and one of the main results is the maintenance of peace. Of course, the ultimate goal of this policy is to restore territorial integrity”, he concluded.

The Abkhazia war began on August 14, 1992 and lasted for 13 months and 13 days, ending with the loss of the capital of Abkhazia, Sokhumi, on September 27, 1993, to separatist forces backed by militants from the North Caucasus and the Russian troops stationed in the region. 

The conflict saw the sides negotiate a ceasefire in September 1992 which was broken by the Abkhaz and Russian forces a month later. The ceasefire that ended the conflict was signed in December 1993.

In August 2008, following a five-day war between Russia and Georgia, the Russian Government recognised the independence of Abkhazia, with the Georgian Parliament declaring it a Russian-occupied region of the country two days later - a view shared by the international community.