RA MFA: Georgia's attempt to lure citizens of Abkhazia to obtain Georgian citizenship will be doomed to complete failure

Comment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia.

Sukhum. April 29. Apsnypress. On April 26, 2016 in Brussels, was the second meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association, in which spoke the State Minister of Georgia Paata Zakareishvili , who made a number of statements relating to Abkhazia.
 
 In his speech Zakareishvili noted such issues as the liberalization of the visa regime with the European Union, the resumption of the work of the Mechanism to prevent and respond to incidents (MPRI) in Gal, as well as the Georgian-Abkhazian contacts extending beyond the Geneva process.
 
 In this regard, the RA Foreign Ministry considers it necessary to note the following.
 
 "It is illusory that the Georgian side hopes that the citizens of Abkhazia will obtain Georgian citizenship en masse to implement visa-free travels abroad. It is possible to say in advance that this is another attempt to lure the citizens of Abkhazia to obtain Georgian citizenship, it will be doomed to complete failure.
 
 In connection with the recent agreement on the resumption of the mechanism for preventing and responding to incidents (MPRI), we consider it necessary to emphasize that the progress in this direction has been achieved as a result of quite intensive Georgian-Abkhaz talks in the Geneva discussions. This important fact was not mentioned in the statement of Zakareishvili. One gets the impression that the Georgian side is trying to hide from its citizens the direct and equal negotiations with officials of Abkhazia that took place in Geneva.
 
 However, against the background of the outlined at the last round of Geneva talks progress on the resumption of the MPRI mechanism aimed at increasing the confidence-building measures in the field of security, and successfully conducted an exchange of prisoners, held with the active participation of the Abkhaz side, Georgia has started again acts of provocation. In particular, the renewed seizure of merchant vessels in international waters, with the next cargo to Abkhazia. Georgia also continues to hinder the participation of the Republic of Abkhazia in the international economic and trade forums and other sites, as recently occurred in the international tourism exhibition in Montenegro. Such provocative actions of Georgia cause significant harm to the efforts of the parties to establish cooperation mechanisms aimed at resolving the conflict.
 
 It was also puzzling the persistent attempts by the authorities of Georgia to give at least some official status to informal Georgian-Abkhaz meetings held within the framework of the activities of non-governmental organizations. We emphasize once again that such meetings are  informal. The only official international format aimed at resolving the relationship between the two countries, at the present moment are international Geneva discussions held with the mediation of Russia, the US, EU, UN and OSCE, in which officials of the parties are presented in equal status.
 
The true intentions of senior Georgian officials, making loud statements about Abkhazia are well understood, they are designed to mislead not only the Georgian society, but also a variety of international organizations. However, the policy of the Georgian authorities, based on the misinformation of the international community and the distortion of the facts, has no future and will not bring any positive results.
 
 The Georgian side must finally abandon the pernicious policy of escalation of tension and to begin an open and honest dialogue, taking full account of current political realities".