Saakashvili: Our land must be returned by peaceful means

Our land must be returned by peaceful means. It is our territory, where the graves of our ancestors are located, our homes, the place where we were born, and the schools where we grew up, President Mikheil Saakashvili stated at the opening ceremony of a new settlement for IDPs in Poti on October 17.

Saakashvili addressed the IDPs saying that his main goal is to strengthen Georgia and help every family to feel relief and return to their original dwellings reiterating that returning back should happen in a peaceful way. “It is our obligation to return every one of these places to Georgia. While every one of you is alive, even in such humanitarian conditions that exist in these new houses, you are still called refugees. While every last one of you is called a refugee, every patriot in Georgia and abroad including me, will feel like a refugee themselves. I will be a refugee until our soil is returned to us,” Saakashvili said.

He thanked foreign allies for projects implemented with the assistance of the EU and mentioned other donors for their financing of similar social projects. During his speech, the president talked about the prospects of employing refugees in detail and noted that Poti was chosen especially for this reason; it is a place where important logistical and infrastructural centers are located. The president also focused attention on the Russian aggression and the peaceful politics needed for restoring territorial integrity.

“I want to tell the conquerors, who are currently on our soil, and everyone else that their plans have not succeeded because you still exist here. Of course, many people did not survive this but you are here, you are breathing. There are children here who are our future, the future of Abkhazia hence the future of Georgia. We have you –people who can do much for Georgia” the president stated.

A total of 1,168 families received well-accommodated living spaces within the scope of the project. In the new settlement about 4,500 people have moved.

Saakashvili talked about Georgia’s NATO and EU membership and emphasized that Georgia had never been so close to achieving its goals as now.

“Never before we have been so close to achieving our historic goals as now; never before we have been so [close] to NATO and never before we have been so close to EU as now. Although our invader still rules [in parts] of our territories, and although it still bars you from returning back to your homes, our invaders have never before had so few chances as now,” the president said.