Press Scanner
Compiled by Messenger Staff
Monday, August 16
No war threat
Speaker of the parliament Davit Bakradze said today the threat of war is very much diminished and he does not see a possibility for a repeat of the war if something unpredictable does not happen in Russian authorities, Rezonansi writes.
“On the one hand the situation is tense in the de-facto territories where Russia still continues to occupy our regions, deploying new military forces and strengthening the administrative border. It seems that it does not plan to fulfil 6-point ceasefire agreement of two years ago. We should also fully realise that Russia did not get what it wanted after war and if it did, the situation would be much worse than it is today. It is important that state exists and continues its development, work state institutions and develop economy. Those give us a chance to work on future perspectives for uniting the country,” Bakradze said.
“It is impossible to be calm when Russian tanks are in your country, when the country is under Russian occupation,” Says Bakradze and added that in those days unity was obvious. “No one was calm, we were very emotional. As for unity, I will remind you of the Security Council session on August 11 which was attended by those people who were not obliged to attend – we were together for unity.
Bakradze commented on the Tagliavini fact finding commission on the Russian-Georgian war and said that he agrees with war report in which discusses factual investigations. “This mission was for fact finding, in one part it is clearly mentioned what proceeded the conflict.
Bakradze says Georgia should always be ready for self defence. This does not mean that there is any imminent concrete threat. Compared with 2008 this threat is much weaker.
Military bases are being built in Abkhazia and nothing more. We have heard about how the Abkhazians talk about the development of Batumi, Anaklia, Ganmukhuri resorts. We want to create the situation inside the country that people from Abkhazia are motivated to form a relationship with us,” Bakradze said.
Tbilisi commemorated 18th anniversary of Abkhazian war
On August 14 Georgia marked the day when the war in the country's breakaway region of Abkhazia started in 1992. On Saturday - the 18th anniversary of start of the war, mothers of the soldiers killed, veterans and representatives of the Abkhaz legitimate government assembled at the memorial to the soldiers fallen in the war for Georgia's territorial integrity in Tbilisi, Akhali Taoba writes. They laid flowers and wreathes on the memorial and observed a minute's silence to commemorate the fallen.
On August 14 1992, in the village of Okhurei, Ochamchire district, the 'Abkhaz Guard' created by order of the chair of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia opened fire on the Georgian National Guard, which had entered the Abkhaz territory in order to defend the Sochi-Ingiri railway sector.
The decision to deploying the National Guard in the territory to protect the railway sector was adopted in accordance with the Chair of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba, who later became a separatist president, on August 11. Despite the agreement, the 'Abkhaz Guard' resisted the Georgian National Guard and war followed. The military confrontation lasted for 13 months and 13 days and finished with fall of Sukhumi, the capital of the Abkhaz Autonomous Region on September 27.
Over 10 thousand soldiers and civilians died on the Georgian side as a consequence of the military confrontation in Abkhazia. 300 thousand people were forcefully displaced from their homes.
Speaker of the parliament Davit Bakradze said today the threat of war is very much diminished and he does not see a possibility for a repeat of the war if something unpredictable does not happen in Russian authorities, Rezonansi writes.
“On the one hand the situation is tense in the de-facto territories where Russia still continues to occupy our regions, deploying new military forces and strengthening the administrative border. It seems that it does not plan to fulfil 6-point ceasefire agreement of two years ago. We should also fully realise that Russia did not get what it wanted after war and if it did, the situation would be much worse than it is today. It is important that state exists and continues its development, work state institutions and develop economy. Those give us a chance to work on future perspectives for uniting the country,” Bakradze said.
“It is impossible to be calm when Russian tanks are in your country, when the country is under Russian occupation,” Says Bakradze and added that in those days unity was obvious. “No one was calm, we were very emotional. As for unity, I will remind you of the Security Council session on August 11 which was attended by those people who were not obliged to attend – we were together for unity.
Bakradze commented on the Tagliavini fact finding commission on the Russian-Georgian war and said that he agrees with war report in which discusses factual investigations. “This mission was for fact finding, in one part it is clearly mentioned what proceeded the conflict.
Bakradze says Georgia should always be ready for self defence. This does not mean that there is any imminent concrete threat. Compared with 2008 this threat is much weaker.
Military bases are being built in Abkhazia and nothing more. We have heard about how the Abkhazians talk about the development of Batumi, Anaklia, Ganmukhuri resorts. We want to create the situation inside the country that people from Abkhazia are motivated to form a relationship with us,” Bakradze said.
Tbilisi commemorated 18th anniversary of Abkhazian war
On August 14 Georgia marked the day when the war in the country's breakaway region of Abkhazia started in 1992. On Saturday - the 18th anniversary of start of the war, mothers of the soldiers killed, veterans and representatives of the Abkhaz legitimate government assembled at the memorial to the soldiers fallen in the war for Georgia's territorial integrity in Tbilisi, Akhali Taoba writes. They laid flowers and wreathes on the memorial and observed a minute's silence to commemorate the fallen.
On August 14 1992, in the village of Okhurei, Ochamchire district, the 'Abkhaz Guard' created by order of the chair of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia opened fire on the Georgian National Guard, which had entered the Abkhaz territory in order to defend the Sochi-Ingiri railway sector.
The decision to deploying the National Guard in the territory to protect the railway sector was adopted in accordance with the Chair of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba, who later became a separatist president, on August 11. Despite the agreement, the 'Abkhaz Guard' resisted the Georgian National Guard and war followed. The military confrontation lasted for 13 months and 13 days and finished with fall of Sukhumi, the capital of the Abkhaz Autonomous Region on September 27.
Over 10 thousand soldiers and civilians died on the Georgian side as a consequence of the military confrontation in Abkhazia. 300 thousand people were forcefully displaced from their homes.