Irakli Kirtskhalia, Chairman of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction said the contrast between the “rootless UNM agent network” and a state-minded government was clearly reflected in their positions on Georgian-Abkhaz relations.

He responded on the Facebook to a statement by imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who said that “Abkhaz people hate us, and nothing can be done about it”.

“Such rhetoric reflected a political mindset that viewed the estrangement between Georgians and Abkhaz people as permanent… Saakashvili had renounced Georgian citizenship after accepting a government position abroad and had continued to promote political narratives that had repeatedly led to confrontation, division and serious consequences for Georgia.

We will never accept the idea that Georgians and Abkhaz people “hate each other” and that “nothing can be done about it”. Despite the pain accumulated over decades, the war and the artificially deepened alienation, we believe reconciliation is possible. Moreover, there is no other path to the peaceful reunification of Georgia.

This is exactly what I spoke about at the opening of the autumn session - about peace, de-occupation, the reunification of the country, and the responsibility that the Government holds before its own people and future generations. And what do we see in response?

As soon as talks begin on peace, reconciliation between Georgians and Abkhazians, and a shared future in a unified state, the so-called political force and its associated agent network instantly spring into action - those for whom permanent confrontation is the only form of existence.

These issues most clearly reveal the political positions of agent network, in contrast to a Government that seeks to build the country’s future on peace, national interests and reunification.

We will not accept this narrative… Georgians, Abkhazians, and Ossetians share a common homeland and a common future. Together, we must build a strong, sovereign, and peaceful state, where neither internal nor external forces will ever again be able to stoke enmity, hatred, and confrontation among us.

They may speak of hatred. We will work for reconciliation. They may seek to build walls between Georgians and Abkhaz people. We will dismantle those walls through peace, development and unity.

This is the difference between their politics and our state-minded vision”, - writes Irakli Kirtskhalia.