David Gareji disputed area case “can only be resolved” by dialogues with strategic partner Azerbaijan - PM candidate
In his comments over the matter, Kobakhidze noted it was important to know why the border agreement had been signed with Azerbaijan against Georgia’s interests, slamming the past statement by Nino Kalandadze, the Deputy Foreign Minister under UNM rule, on the Gareji case, in which the former official “admitted that a specific part of the Gareji monastery complex was not on Georgian territory”. Photo via Parliament of Georgia
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the candidate for the position of the Prime Minister of Georgia, on Wednesday said the case of the disputed area of the David Gareji monastery complex “could only be resolved” through dialogues with a strategic partner - Azerbaijan.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office in 2020 charged two former officials for withholding materials from a border agreement with Azerbaijan under the United National Movement Government in 2006-2007, after new map materials were found by the Governmental commission working on the demarcation of the Georgian border with Azerbaijan in 2020.
In his comments over the matter, Kobakhidze noted it was important to know why the border agreement had been signed with Azerbaijan against Georgia’s interests, slamming the past statement by Nino Kalandadze, the Deputy Foreign Minister under UNM rule, on the Gareji case, in which the former official “admitted that a specific part of the Gareji monastery complex was not on Georgian territory”.
- Ruling party: investigation must establish whether UNM was responsible for forfeit of Georgian lands
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991, out of its four neighbouring states Georgia has agreed upon its borders only with Turkey.
Only two-thirds of the state border has been agreed upon with Azerbaijan so far, which on several occasions triggered tension in David Gareji back in 2019.
Two detainees in the Georgia-Azerbaijan ‘land forfeit’ high-profile case Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova have been released on 20,000 GEL bail each earlier today. The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office requested the bail, stating that there was no need for pretrial detention. Melashvili and Ilichova will not be able to leave the country before the court delivers a verdict in the case.
The prosecution says that a motive has been identified in the high-profile Georgia-Azerbaijan border case, which saw two former officials detained last year for allegedly withholding materials from a border agreement with Azerbaijan under the United National Movement government in 2006-2007.
The Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze says that the investigation must reveal whether the previous United National Movement was involved in the concession of 3,500 ha of land to Azerbaijan under the party’s leadership, including the territories of Georgia’s 6th century David Gareji monastery complex.
Two former members working on a state commission charged with demarcating Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan have been detained earlier today by the country’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor’s Office claims that the detainees hid an original map issued in 1937-38 and instead used other maps based on which the border sections between the two countries were agreed ‘against the interests of Georgia and history.’ The detainees are the head of the department for border relations with neighbouring countries of the Ministry of Foreigh Affairs of Georgia Iveri Melashvili and a senior inspector in the border protection department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Natalia Ilichova.