Separatist Abkhazia criticises Georgian position
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, July 18
The leadership of Georgia’s western occupied Abkhazia region, which was recognized as an independent state by Russia in the wake of the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, claims Georgia “misleads” the international community over the politics of the region.
The de-facto Abkhazian Foreign Ministry says that on July 12, 2017, the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN Shalva Tsiskarashvili had a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, during which he stressed the importance of creating international mechanisms for ensuring security and the need to monitor the observance of human rights in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (the two Russian occupied regions of Georgia).
The de-facto Ministry claimed that “unfortunately, Georgia continues to use various international platforms to disseminate false and one-sided information about events in Abkhazia.”
The de-facto Ministry considered it necessary to recall that the only international mechanism aimed at resolving the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict remains the Geneva international discussions, as well as the existing Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM).
“Against this background, the regular calls of the Georgian side to introduce any additional international security mechanisms look simply absurd,” they added.
They also claimed that Georgia “was absolutely not ready” to work towards real solutions of existing problems aimed at settling the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and providing security conditions in the region.
The de-facto leadership also stated that the accusations of Georgian politicians over serious violations in the field of human rights that are taking place in Abkhazia “are exclusively politicized and populist”.
Russia and Nicaragua recognised Abkhazia’s and Tskhinvali’s (South Ossetia) independence in 2008 in the wake of the Russia-Georgia war.
In 2009 Venezuela and Vanuatu also took the same step.
Georgia and influential foreign organisations state that human rights are being blatantly violated in and near Georgia’s Russian occupied regions, and demand permission of international missions in the breakaway areas, which is dismissed by Russia and the de-facto authorities.
The international community supports suspension of Georgia’s creeping occupation.
