Ruling party Executive Secretary - Gov’t will “not discuss any issue” at expense of territorial integrity

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said “not a single issue” would be discussed by the Government “at the cost of giving up the territorial integrity” of the country.

Mdinaradze’s comments came after Fady Asly, the Chairman of the Georgian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, claimed Georgia faced a choice between “[re]integration with the two [Russian-occupied] separatist regions [of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia)] as a slave of Russia, or life in an independent Georgia as a member of the European Union but without the two regions”.

In his comments to the media, Mdinaradze said the ruling party would “make sure the next Government will not dare” to make decisions “compromising” the country’s occupied territories.

Abkhazians and Ossetians should know, along with other citizens, that we are children of one country, and this issue will not be discussed at the expense of anything, no matter what anyone says”, he told reporters.

The GD official alleged the United National Movement opposition party “did not dare” to “openly talk” about the topic and was “testing the public's mood” on the issue through “statements by various individuals”.