Foreign office: Georgia won’t attend 3+3 format meeting in Tehran
“Georgia does not participate in the mentioned meeting and has never participated”, the foreign office said. Photo: MFA of Georgia
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The Georgian foreign office on Sunday said the country would not participate in a meeting of the so-called "3+3 format" taking place on Monday in Iran’s capital city of Tehran that would bring together officials from Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Georgia does not participate in the mentioned meeting and has never participated”, the foreign office said.
Following the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a landlocked region in southwest Azerbaijan near the southeastern border of Armenia, in 2020 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put forward the idea of launching a six-nation platform that includes the cooperation of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Iran in order to establish stability and peace in the region.
The official position of the Georgian authorities is that the country will not participate in the format due to the Russian factor.
Georgia and Russia suspended their diplomatic ties following the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. However, two countries have continued trade and economic discussions since 2013 under the Georgian Dream government with Georgian-Russian informal dialogue, which involves Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for relations with Russia and Gregory Karasin, the former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has stated that the next so-called 3+3 regional meeting, proposed by Turkey and Iran in 2020 and including Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, is expected to take place in Ankara, Turkey, and the latter looks forward to the participation of Georgia as well.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) says it is ‘unacceptable’ that the Georgian flag appeared at the so-called 3+3 regional cooperation initiative held on December 10 in Moscow in which the country refused to participate.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has reiterated that Georgia will not be present at a regional meeting scheduled for December 10 in Moscow in the so-called 3+3 format proposed by Turkey and Iran in 2020 which includes Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, RFE/RL's Georgian service reports.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says that statements made by FM David Zalkaliani during a recent interview about a cooperation format proposed by Turkey and Iran which would include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia has been ‘misinterpreted’ by the media.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday ruled out Georgia’s participation in “any format that involves a country occupying Georgia’s territories”, after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday said the Kremlin “assumed” Georgia would feature in a format of discussions over stability in the South Caucasus region.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Tuesday said his Government's “major goal” was to ensure “peace and stability” in the South Caucasus region with “friendly” nations of Azerbaijan and Armenia through acting as an “unbiased” mediator to resolve their long-running conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.