Georgia’s new president disappoints Armenians

5 March 2019 16:15 (UTC+04:00)

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The visit of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to Azerbaijan and the statements made in Baku took the occupant country out of the comfort zone and made it very nervous.

Zourabichvili’s visit to Baku could not pass unnoticed and unanalyzed by Yerevan. In Armenia, they got used to political correctness, which Tbilisi had previously demonstrated in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, not wanting to “spoil relations” with Yerevan. This is despite the fact that Georgia is experiencing the same problems as Azerbaijan, which, of course, went beyond the bounds of logic.

Isolated from the region, Armenia is hard to hear about projects being implemented without its participation. Yerevan made a number of statements demanding that the Georgian side allow it to use transport corridors.

Tbilisi responded to this with the help of its experts, who explained to outraged Armenians that the projects implemented on Azerbaijani money are under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan and Yerevan must hold negotiations directly with Baku.

Besides, Georgia’s new president annoyed Armenia by another sensitive topic. The Armenian nationalists were thrown into hysterics by the Zourabichvili’s words regarding the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"We have restored our independence together. In recent years we passed through the same tragedy. Today, we are experiencing what the occupation of territories means for the country. Territorial integrity has not yet been restored. The occupation issue still remains for us as an open wound. On the one hand hinders our development, and on the other hand, despite all these tragedies, we have been able to strengthen our state and economy. Our path is the path of independence, and we will continue to do so. These are great achievements," said Zourabichvili.

Conflicts and violation of territorial integrity are a tragedy of both countries,she said, adding that today, Georgia and Azerbaijan are fighting together in international organizations from the UN to UNESCO to recognize and restore sovereignty and territorial integrity of two countries.

Armenian media wondered if Tbilisi changed its position to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, or did Zourabichvili not thoroughly understand the regional policy and nuances of relations between the countries?

In fact, Armenia has no moral right to blame Georgia for a constructive approach to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Remarkable that Armenia itself regularly votes in international organizations against the territorial integrity of Georgia and the right of Georgian refugees to return to occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia understands that this position of Armenia proceeds from the complete dependence of Yerevan on Moscow.

Armenia does not recognize the territorial integrity of Georgia because it understands what a foolish situation it may be. If separatists in Georgia do not have the right to “self-determination”, then Yerevan automatically recognizes the absence of such a right from Karabakh as well. By the way, in Abkhazia, ethnical cleansing of the Georgian population was carried out with the direct participation of Armenian gangster formation named Bagramyan.

Meanwhile, since the presidential term of Mikheil Saakashvili, official Tbilisi has openly advocated a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the principle of territorial integrity.

Earlier, Georgia's former Foreign Minister Gela Bejuashvili stated that Georgia unequivocally supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Later, another foreign minister, Mikheil Janelidze, at a joint press conference with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkey, said that Tbilisi is a supporter of the peaceful settlement of conflicts within the framework of the territorial integrity of states, demonstrating that Georgia adheres to a constructive position in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94