Georgia’s ruling party Sec Gen: territorial integrity must be restored through peaceful means, not war

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Wednesday that Georgia must pursue the restoration of its territorial integrity through peaceful means rather than war, focusing on strengthening the economy, building state capacity, and achieving coexistence with Abkhazians and Ossetians.

Kaladze made the remarks while responding to a recent statement by imprisoned former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili concerning the restoration of Georgian control over Abkhazia.

“We know the attitude of these people toward the Georgian state and the Georgian people. These are ordinary enemies of the country. We have been convinced of this more than once, not only by their statements but also by concrete facts. What they did to our state and the Georgian people in 2008 through their dirty politics is a very serious crime”, he said.

“Let us recall, for example, what happened during the parliamentary elections, when the founder of our party made a statement about reconciliation - what kind of reaction they had and what statements they made. They are enemies of the country. Even now, an anti-Georgian campaign has been underway for several weeks. They are directly carrying out a specific assignment”, Kaladze continued.

The official also criticised opposition figures over what he described as an ongoing “anti-Georgian campaign”.

“Let us recall Baramidze’s statement, in which he gravely insulted Georgian soldiers and levelled a very serious accusation against them. The same applies to Gvaramia’s statement regarding territorial integrity, in which he drew parallels with Karabakh, and so on. These people generally consider Abkhazia and the occupied territories to be some kind of trauma. Of course, this is very painful for our country and our people. It can be said that for anyone who loves our country and the Georgian people, the country’s territorial integrity is the main value and priority”, he stressed.

Kaladze emphasised that Georgia should avoid military escalation and instead pursue a long-term strategy focused on economic development, state-building and reconstruction.

“We must do everything through our actions and the policy we implement so that, not through war but through peaceful means - with a strong economy, a strengthened state and reconstruction - we achieve coexistence with the Abkhazians and Ossetians and restore the country’s territorial integrity”, he concluded.