Georgian Parliament Speaker emphasises ancestral wisdom amid global turmoil

In a speech delivered during the celebration of Georgia's Independence Day, the Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday addressed the current global climate, describing it as a “turbulent, ambiguous, and disoriented time”.

Papuashvili asserted that in such challenging times, the primary compass for the nation must be the wisdom inherited from their ancestors. He highlighted three “divine treasures” passed down through generations: “our homeland, our language, and our faith”.

“What guides us in these difficult times? It is the knowledge passed down from our ancestors, the love they shared with us, their experience, our state memory, and the millennia we have lived through. Even today, our main orientation remains the three divine treasures passed down to us for safekeeping - our homeland, our language, and our faith”, the Speaker said.

“These are not just concepts - they are a living heritage, ancient yet filled with modern meaning. We have never lived without them, and we cannot live without them in the future. Losing even one of these would mean losing ourselves as a nation and as a state”, he continued.

The Speaker highlighted that Georgians were a people for whom homeland was not just geography - it was home, a home they had lived in since the beginning of their history.

He further emphasised that protecting it, preserving it, and caring for it was both their duty and the duty of every generation. That, he added, was why the country’s greatest mission and national goal was to restore and unite their common home - their homeland, Georgia - together with their Abkhaz and Ossetian brothers and sisters.

“Our language gives us the power to build a national state - it is the channel for mutual understanding, love, and kindness. The Georgian language preserves our memory, our statehood, our cultural and traditional code - what makes us unique and unlike any other nation”, he continued.

“And finally, we are a people of faith. Our national strength comes from the personal belief and devotion of every citizen, regardless of religion or ethnicity. A person without faith, reverence, or rooted values - who mocks or adopts foreign ideologies - can never become a progressive and constructive force for their homeland”, Papuashvili concluded.