Armenian President did not meet de-facto delegations
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, September 5
Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gigi Gigiadze says President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has not met with delegations from Georgia’s de-facto regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) last week, when they arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh to congratulate the “25th anniversary of the birth of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic,” a major topic of confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Abkhaz media reported that a government delegation of Abkhazia attended an event held in relation to the anniversary of the declaration of independence of Karabakh.
The delegation was headed by the de-facto Vice President of Abkhazia, Vitali Gabnia.
Gabnia said he hoped relations with Nagorno Karabakh would be deepened.
Shortly beforehand, the so-called Deputy Abkhazian FM Kan Tania posted photos on Facebook showing Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan together with the de-facto delegations.
“We swiftly reacted to the information and contacted the relevant bodies in Armenia. Officials in Armenia said no meeting between their President and representatives of the de-facto regions took place,” Gigiadze said.
Armenian new agency News.am, reported that the “President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako Sahakyan on Friday met with the delegations of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, which have arrived in Karabakh in the framework of the festivities on occasion of the 25th anniversary of the republic’s independence.”
The agency said the meeting addressed issues concerning bilateral ties.
The NKR President welcomed the visit of the representatives of friendly countries to Artsakh, underscoring the importance of continuously deepening and developing the ties with them, News.am added.
Russia and Nicaragua recognised Abkhazia’s independence in 2008 in the wake of the Russia-Georgia war.
In 2009 Venezuela, Vanuatu, Nauru and Tuvalu took the same step.
After several years, Vanuatu and Tuvalu revoked their recognition and now declare that Abkhazia and Tskhinvali are integral parts of Georgia, a position held by the rest of the world.
