Georgian Parliament Speaker says Georgia refused to follow foreign rhetoric in 2022 and avoided collapse

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said that facing geopolitical reality does not mean serving war, but protecting the country.

Papuashvili’s remarks followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that “we will have to build a new European security architecture together with Russia”.

In a social media message, Papuashvili noted that Georgia made this same strategic choice in 2022.

“For reference, the distance from France’s easternmost border to Russia’s westernmost border is 2,000 kilometers, while from the occupation line to Georgia’s main transport artery it is 500 meters. This stark, tangible geographic difference places Georgia and France in entirely different situations. It is the difference between theoretical rhetoric and the weight of real responsibility, between geopolitical statements and geopolitical decisions”, he said.

The Speaker further noted that those who understood history and did not close their eyes to its lessons knew that pseudo-values and empty rhetoric would lead to such an outcome, stressing that this was clear in 2022 as well.

“Confrontations of this kind have occurred multiple times in human history; they end, countries reach settlements, and life goes on. This was true in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and long before that. The shifting balance of power, change, and reconfiguration is the nature of great states. The destruction and casualties that occur at their points of contact are the fate of smaller states”, Papuashvili continued.

He added that in 2022, Georgia faced a clear choice: confront the inevitable day - already hinted at in President Macron’s statements - destroyed and devastated, or learn from its own experience and follow its own path instead of succumbing to the false pathos of others.

“This is where the line was drawn between patriots and those without loyalty to the homeland. The former adopted someone else’s flag and anthem as their own, first convincing themselves and then others that a rain of bombs was preferable to the shame of peace; that it was their fight, their duty, that sacrifice was necessary for a glorious future; that war is peace and the sun rises from the west. Under that flag, they insulted fellow citizens, friends, and dissenters, spat in plates, and cursed on walls”, the Speaker noted.

Papuashvili further stressed that the Georgian Government had protected the lives of our people because “we understood that patriotism is not in loud slogans, but in state responsibility”.

“Geography cannot be changed. History cannot be erased. Those who confront this truth do not serve war but protect the country. This is the choice Georgia made”, he concluded.