Georgian Parliament Speaker: rejecting Georgia’s sovereignty means standing with those who undermine it

Georgian Parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said that Russia has long refused to recognize Georgia’s sovereignty and the jurisdiction of the Georgian authorities over part of the country’s territory, and claimed that Germany’s government has now effectively joined that position.

The controversy erupted after the official website of the German foreign ministry continued to list Salome Zourabichvili as the president of Georgia, despite the Georgian government’s insistence that her term has concluded and a successor has been designated.

“For years, we have had to engage in political and other forms of struggle with Russia regarding the recognition of Georgia’s sovereignty. Today, Russia is the one that does not recognise Georgia's sovereignty and the jurisdiction of the Georgian government over a part of Georgia's territory; and as it turns out, the German government has now been added to this, as it also does not recognise the jurisdiction of the Georgian government”, the speaker said.

“Whoever does not recognise the sovereignty of Georgia and the Georgian people must accept that they will be placed in the same corner as those political groups or countries that infringe upon Georgia's sovereignty. This is a clear example of an infringement on Georgia's sovereignty. No one is a fool here. Through this behaviour, the German government is showing that it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the Georgian government over the entire territory of Georgia. Not just over a part of it, but over the entirety of Georgia's territory”, Papuashvili concluded.