Kobakhidze: Government Remains Committed to its Policy of Peaceful De-Occupation
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
The chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the top Ukrainian officials had begun to speak openly about opening a second front in Georgia and ending the ongoing war in Ukraine after the UNM's next visit to Ukraine.
At the briefing held at the party's office asserted that ‘any war in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali will not only be a war between Georgians and Russian occupying forces, but also a war between Georgians and the Abkhaz, Georgians and Ossetians’.
According to him the Government remains committed to its policy of peaceful de-occupation and will ‘stand against every provocation aimed at escalating a new military confrontation with our Abkhaz and Ossetian brothers and sisters’.
“A new fratricidal war will be the greatest, an unforgivable crime in the history of our country, which we will not allow again,” he added.
In an apparent reference to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, MP Kobakhidze suggested that if the present difficult situation offers any windows of opportunity in this area, Georgia may assist occupied territory people in coping with worsened social concerns.
He stated that the United National Movement is attempting to lure Georgia into Ukraine's ongoing war conflict and create a second front in the nation.
“We have repeatedly shared information with the public that the main goal of all provocations organized by the United National Movement was to involve Georgia in the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and to open a second front in Georgia,” Kobakhidze said.
According to him, the direct or indirect talks of the ‘war party’ serve the purpose of escalating the military conflict in Georgia and calls for the restoration of territorial integrity through war.
Kobakhidze said that a UNM delegation's recent visit to Kyiv confirmed this, claiming that ‘high officials of the Ukrainian Government openly started discussing creating the second frontline in Georgia and the plausibility of transferring the conflict in Ukraine to Georgia.’
The comments of Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, he argued, was a prime example of this. On March 26, Ukrainian media quoted Danilov as suggesting that it would be beneficial for Ukraine if ‘new combat fronts started to emerge for the Russian Federation, made feasible by its recent acts in the past.’
In particular, Danilov said that opening up additional fronts in Russia's sphere of interest would help Ukraine deal with the Russian invasion. “This will really help us, because Russia will have everything to do besides destroying our cities and villages, killing our children and women.”
“The Georgian government is not going to deviate from its stated peace policy. It has been like this before and it will be like this in the future as well,” Irakli Beraia, Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Parliament of Georgia announced.
“We were talking about the fact that there are subjects, both in the country and abroad, who are interested, trying and doing everything to expand the geographical area of hostilities and to involve Georgia in the war. It was also expected that they would not be able to hide their intentions and tasks for a long time. It is very unfortunate that this was voiced by the Secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine, which is unacceptable and shocking for us,” Beraia wrote.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian Parliament, also responded to Danilov's statement on Twitter:
"I hope this is a false story. Is the Secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine calling on Georgia (and others) to abandon the policy of peaceful restoration of territorial integrity by opening a second front to destroy our towns and villages and kill Georgian women and children? Really?” Nikoloz Samkharadze wrote.
Mikheil Sarjveladze, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration, says that there can be no justification or reason for Georgia to call for a war now.
