Khaindrava Comments on Abkhaz-Proposed Peace Plan
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said that although Tbilisi does not agree with all the provisions of the Abkhaz-proposed peace plan, the fact that this kind of document is being developed is a positive step in itself.
He said that Tbilisi supports those aspects of the document which reflect the need to strengthen mutual trust between the sides and the economic rehabilitation of the region.
“We have different positions about how to implement this – in which period and with whose participation. We think that internationalization of this process is more acceptable, while the Abkhaz side considers Russia’s guarantees more acceptable. But we do not regard Russia’s guarantees as real guarantees,” Khaindrava told reporters after talks with visiting Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba.
Shamba submitted the document to the Georgian side during the talks in Tbilisi on May 15.
The Abkhaz side’s peace plans, named the “Key to the Future,” offers Tbilisi “to re-assess its mistakes of the past and apologize to the Abkhaz people for the state policy of assimilation, war and isolation.”
“It [putting forth a demand to apologize] is a one-sided approach. I think that both [Abkhaz and Georgia] sides, and mainly the third side – the Soviet Union and its successor [Russia] – are guilty of what has happened in Abkhazia. If we do not say ‘no’ to one-sided approaches this issue it will be very difficult to find a consensus on,” Khaindrava told reporters on May 15.
“You know our position about this issue. Launching war was a very serious mistake… But saying apologies against the background of the presence of about 300 thousand internally displaced persons [from Abkhazia], who are deprived of their right to return back to their homes, is somehow unreasonable,” Khaindrava said.
