Gita Elibekyan
“Radiolur”
The Armenian Genocide issue will never be raised in the Georgian Parliament, representatives of the current and former authorities of Georgia have declared in response to the appeal of the Armenian organizations to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
“This does not mean, however, that we must recognize the Armenian Genocide. We do not want to create extra tension in the region. We want good relations with both Armenia and Turkey,” the Minister told a press conference in Tbilisi. “There are questions we should avoid adopting decisions on,” he added.
Representative of the Parliamentary majority, member of the Republican Party Levan Berdzenishvili said: “Georgia and the Georgian nation will never left room for reprimand. Even when those events were taking place, we were behaving like a good neighbour and a decent nation would behave. We gave shelter to Armenians, thus expressing our attitude. From the political point of view demanding more is unfair.” The MP said the recognition of the Armenian Genocide is unlikely and added he does not know any Georgian party that would ever do that.
“We respect all that happened, we share the pain of our neighbouring nation, and April 24 is as painful a day to me as it is to any Armenian. However, I believe the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide will not be raised either today or any time in the future. This demand is unfair, as its realization is impossible,” netgazeti.ge quotes Berdzenishvili as saying.
Representative of the parliamentary minority Shota Malashkhia said this issue between Armenia and Turkey should be solved through dialogue, noting, at the same time, that “today Georgia does not have enough weight to prove the issue.”
”We also have a number of problems, half a million refugees and others, and if some day we have the weight and influence in the region to consider issues of 1915, and if I’m alive by that time, we’ll continue the discussions on the issue,” he stated.
