Georgia’s ruling party official: difference between ‘rootless UNM agent network’ and state-minded government most clearly seen in Abkhazia policy

Irakli Kirtskhalia, Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s parliamentary faction, on Friday said the contrast between what he described as the “rootless UNM agent network” and a state-minded government was most clearly reflected in their positions on Georgian-Abkhaz relations.

In a social media post, Kirtskhalia was responding to a statement by imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who said that “Abkhaz people hate us, and nothing can be done about it”.

Kirtskhalia argued that such rhetoric reflected a political mindset that viewed the estrangement between Georgians and Abkhaz people as permanent.

He noted that Saakashvili had renounced Georgian citizenship after accepting a government position abroad and, according to him, had continued to promote political narratives that had repeatedly led to confrontation, division and serious consequences for Georgia.

“We will never accept the idea that Georgians and Abkhaz people ‘hate each other’ and that ‘nothing can be done about it.’ Despite the pain accumulated over decades, the war and the artificially deepened alienation, we believe reconciliation is possible. Moreover, there is no other path to the peaceful reunification of Georgia”, Kirtskhalia said.

He added that he had spoken about peace, de-occupation, Georgia’s reunification and the government’s responsibility to future generations during the opening of Parliament’s autumn session.

Kirtskhalia claimed that whenever the issues of peace, Georgian-Abkhaz reconciliation and a shared future within a unified state were raised, “the so-called political force and its affiliated agent network” became active, arguing that permanent confrontation was their “only mode of existence”.

According to him, these issues most clearly reveal the political positions of what he called the “agent network”, in contrast to a government that seeks to build the country’s future on peace, national interests and reunification.

“We will not accept this narrative”, Kirtskhalia said.

He added that Georgians, Abkhaz and Ossetians shared a common homeland and future, and stressed that Georgia’s policy of peace, de-occupation and reunification was aimed at building a “strong, sovereign and peaceful state”.

“They may speak of hatred. We will work for reconciliation. They may seek to build walls between Georgians and Abkhaz people. We will dismantle those walls through peace, development and unity”, Kirtskhalia said.

“This is the difference between their politics and our state-minded vision”, he concluded.