Georgian PM Says Border Demarcation With Azerbaijan, Armenia Being Pursued in ‘Friendly Manner’

Georgia is actively working on border delimitation and demarcation with neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia in a “friendly manner,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said, including on the unresolved David Gareji issue.

Kobakhidze made the remarks during an appearance on Open Air, a programme aired by Georgia’s Imedi TV.

“As for the Gareji issue, we are actively working on delimitation and demarcation in a friendly manner. We inherited this problem, and the situation was aggravated under the previous government because the appropriate maps were not used as a basis for the process. You remember what followed from all of this,” Kobakhidze said.

The David Gareji monastery complex lies along the Georgia-Azerbaijan border, sections of which remain subject to an unresolved delimitation process between the two countries.

Kobakhidze said Georgia maintains friendly relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia and that border delimitation and demarcation remain necessary with both neighboring states.

“We are working in a friendly manner. We have friendly relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Delimitation and demarcation need to be carried out with both countries, and work on this issue will continue in an entirely friendly manner,” he said.

The prime minister also referred to maps dating from 1938, arguing that the previous Georgian government had failed to use them in handling the border issue.

“This is precisely the position of a sovereign state, rather than what happened at the time when the 1938 maps were hidden. That was exactly the action of a non-sovereign government,” Kobakhidze said.

“As for a sovereign government, a sovereign government acts in the way we are acting on this issue,” he added.