On the 33rd anniversary of the fall of Sokhumi, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze reiterated that official Tbilisi intends to restore the country’s territorial integrity exclusively through negotiations. He also accused the opposition of attempting to disrupt the peaceful scenario.
“Restoring territorial integrity through peaceful means is one of our primary national tasks, and neither Baramidze, nor Gvaramia, nor Berdzenishvili, nor anyone else will be able to change this, no matter what orders or directives they have received,” Kobakhidze said.
According to the head of government, it has already become apparent that the opposition received a new directive from the outside — “a new assignment from their leadership abroad.”
“This is indicated first by Baramidze’s statement, then by Gvaramia’s statements, and before that came Berdzenishvili’s statement. They received a new line, a new order, a new assignment aimed at pushing the issue of restoring territorial integrity into the background, which must not be allowed under any circumstances.
Restoring territorial integrity is one of our primary national tasks. Restoring territorial integrity through peaceful means is one of our primary national tasks, and neither Baramidze, nor Gvaramia, nor Berdzenishvili, nor anyone else will be able to change this, no matter what orders or directives they have received,” Kobakhidze stated.
As a reminder, opposition politician Giorgi Baramidze stated in a recent interview that at the beginning of the war in Abkhazia in the 1990s, no prisoners were handed over to the Abkhaz side because there were none—they were executed. Following these remarks, criminal proceedings were initiated against the politician under charges of high treason and sabotage.
For his part, Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, stated that Georgians and Abkhazians do not like each other and are enemies, while Republican Party member Davit Berdzenishvili said that Nikol Pashinyan had “relieved Armenia of the Karabakh burden.” Critics interpreted these words as an allusion suggesting that Georgians, too, should abandon the burden of their territorial problems.