Foreign Affairs Committee Chair: No 3+3 Participation without De-occupation
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament, Nikoloz Samkharadze, has said that Georgia will not participate in the “3+3” platform unless the Georgian territories are de-occupied. “For us, the 3+3 format is unacceptable precisely because of Russia,” Samkharadze told the Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB).
The format, which brings together three regional powers – Iran, Turkey and Russia – as well as two South Caucasus countries- Azerbaijan and Armenia, was established in 2021 and, despite its name, Georgia is not a member.
Samkharadze said that there is “a very clear position” on non-participation in the 3+3 format, although he also clarified that Georgia is not “excluding” itself from the internal Caucasian processes. Georgia’s non-participation “does not mean that we will not develop the bilateral relations with Turkey, or that we will not try to establish a format for trilateral relations with the participation of Georgia-Armenia-Azerbaijan,” – Samkharadze noted.
According to Samkharadze, in the Caucasus, it is important to create a kind of “climate” that will encourage political and economic cooperation. However, “when one of the members of this so-called format grossly violates the territorial integrity of our country and has the part of our country occupied, of course, it makes no sense to participate in this format,” – Samkharadze said.
The Parliamentary committee chair noted that the 3+3 format can’t be utilized for de-occupation. He said: “We have the Geneva format and we can see very well how Russia behaves in the Geneva format; for 15 years it has blocked all decisions that could advance the conflict resolution process and take some steps towards de-occupation. So I have no illusions that Russia will behave differently in any other format.”
Samkharadze also noted that the last meeting of the 3+3 format in Tehran issued a communique in which the signatories, including Russia, recognized the territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders.
The last meeting in the framework of the 3+3 platform was held this year in Tehran, Iran, on October 23. Georgia did not participate in the meeting, although the joint communique called for its “equal participation.” Following the ministerial, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also expressed their willingness and called for Georgia’s participation in the future meetings of the format.
Also Read:
- 11/12/2021 – Tbilisi Skips 3+3 Platform Meeting in Moscow
- 14/01/2022 – Lavrov Hopes Baku, Ankara, Yerevan Can Convince Tbilisi on Joining 3+3
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
