Georgian Dream votes against OSCE resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Georgia has voted against an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly resolution, despite the resolution removing remarks criticised by the country’s representative in the Assembly.

The resolution was adopted at the 31st annual session of the organisation’s Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the chair of Georgia’s Foreign Relations Committee and head of Georgia’s parliamentary delegation to the OSCE Assembly, criticised an earlier draft that he said misrepresented the Abkhazia and South Ossetia conflict with its wording.

He criticised the resolution as portraying Russia as not being party to the conflict.

‘If I had not witnessed the process myself, I would have thought that the amendment and its wording came from the members of the Russian Duma, but then I realised that the Russians are not here’, said Samkharadze.

‘The wording that was added to the paragraph on Russian occupation of Georgian territories is exactly what Russia has been trying to achieve in international negotiations in Geneva negotiations for the last 16 years: to portray as if Russia is not a part of the conflict’, he said.

He additionally criticised the initial draft resolution’s mention of Tbilisi-controlled Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.

‘Up until yesterday, I thought that this organisation recognised only one Georgia with its internationally recognised borders, and I thought I was representing it for the last four years’, he said.

‘Apparently this Assembly now thinks that there is Tbilisi-controlled Georgia, an absolutely unacceptable term on the one hand, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the other. Very heartbreaking to say the least’.

They additionally argued that the articles mentioning Abkhazia and South Ossetia played into Russia’s strategy and defended its ‘destructive behaviour within the framework of the Geneva format’.

‘All this is gravely concerning, especially because OSCE is a co-chair of the Geneva negotiations, and the United States of America, whose representatives authored the amendment, is a member of the Geneva Format and a strategic partner of my country’.

Provisions highlighted by Samkharadze about Abkhazia and South Ossetia were removed from the final draft.

Gigi Tsereteli, the former president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the opposition European Georgia party, stated that the assembly amended the resolution to remove an ‘unacceptable entry […] where there were no correct formulations of the current situation’.

‘It is very sad that the government’s propaganda used this, as if something was being prepared against the interests of Georgia by the West, by the Americans, and the Assembly itself had an interest in it, which is really unfounded and proves once again that the anti-Western campaign continues’, said Tsereteli.

‘A horrendous undermining of Georgia’s state interests’

In his speech, Samkharadze also criticised the resolution for criticising Tbilisi’s adoption of the foreign agent law and attacks on government critics. He said that Georgia was ‘groundlessly attacked by adding several amendments to otherwise very balanced and good resolutions’.

The final resolution appears to not have omitted these points criticised by Samkharadze, with the opposition United National Movement’s chair Tina Bokuchava suggesting that the Georgian Dream-led government rejected the resolution for its criticism of its policies.

The resolution called on the OSCE, ODIHR, and the Parliamentary Assembly to establish an electoral observation mission for Georgia’s parliamentary elections in October.

Samkharadze criticised the Parliamentary Assembly for ‘singling out’ Georgia among eight elections expected to be held in OSCE member states in the coming months, accusing it of having ‘deliberately discredited the elections four months in advance’.

He also criticised the resolution’s mention of political polarisation in Georgia, stating that there was ‘political polarisation that is even deeper in other countries of the OSCE area, the resolution doesn’t criticise polarisation in any other country but Georgia’.

‘This I believe is a targeted attack on my country, let alone allegations that a new law on transparency would restrict freedom of speech and assembly, which is just a blatant lie’, he said of the resolution’s criticism of the controversial foreign agent law.

‘France and Canada, members of this Assembly, also adopted similar laws last month, but I have not seen any mention of them in the resolutions, [which] makes me think that here also Georgia was deliberately singled out’, he added, parroting statements made by Georgian Dream members in defence of their foreign agent law.

The foreign agent law was met with fierce opposition in Georgia, with critics warning of its similarity to Russian legislation that was used to crush civil society and dissent.

In the resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly expressed ‘grave concern regarding Kremlin-supported and aligned efforts to undermine Georgia’s fragile democracy’.

It called on the authorities to ‘cease attendant attacks on civil society, independent media, activists, and lawful protesters, which bear all the hallmarks of an extended Russian hybrid operation’.

‘Due to this horrendous undermining of Georgia’s state interests, we will vote against the final declaration for the first time in history’, said Samkharadze at the Parliamentary Assembly.

‘We have to openly declare that these are biased amendments with statements based on hearsay and no supporting evidence. It is very frustrating to see this assembly playing into the hands of Russia in this particular case, but our determination remains unshaken and we will continue to fight to defend our country’.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Read in Armenian on CivilNet.