MP’s address an open letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia regarding the Bichvinta annexation
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Seven parliamentary opposition MPs addressed an open letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili regarding the issue of the 49-year transfer of the coastline and marine aquatorium surrounding the former state country houses of Bichvinta to Russia.
The letter criticizes the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia regarding the issue and notes that MPs consider the silence and inaction of the Ministry to be completely unacceptable regarding the factual annexation of Bichvinta and the so-called contract.
MPs draw attention to the resolution "On de-occupation and the peaceful resolution of the Russian-Georgian conflict", in which "a call was made to the government to develop a common national vision and inclusive policy for de-occupation and peaceful resolution of the conflict, as well as a national strategy for combating hybrid threats, which has not been done yet."
"As you know, there has been a heated discussion in the Abkhaz community for several weeks on the issue of handing over the coastline and marine waters surrounding the former state cottages in Bichvinta to Russia for 49 years. The so-called agreement, on the basis of which the territory is transferred to Russia, was signed in Moscow on January 19, 2022” the letter reads.
As of today, the so-called The discussion of the agreement is ongoing in the de facto parliament of Abkhazia. According to the mentioned so-called draft agreement, 186 hectares of Bichvinta land and 115 hectares of sea space are transferred to the ownership of the Russian Federation. All buildings and structures become the property of the Federal Protection Service, and the Black Sea water area with the surrounding lands will be transferred to Russia on a 49-year lease.
According to opposition MPs it is the direct obligation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make an official statement, which will evaluate the above-mentioned so-called agreement as an unequivocal annexation.
“Releasing a statement on the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is directly related to the declared national interest of the de-occupation of the state and the parliamentary resolution, as well as the call and work with the Western partner countries”, the open letter reads, which was published on the Parliament of Georgia website.
The authors of the open letter are opposition MPs: Levan Ioseliani, Teona Akubardia, Anna Buchukuri, Tamar Kordzaia, Aleko Elisashvili, Khatuna Samnidze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili.
