 This file photo shows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Abkhazia's leader, Sergei Bagapsh, drinking coffee in a local cafe during their meeting in Sukhumi in August 2010. AFP photo |
The foreign minister of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia said Monday that his government was “skeptical” about the European Union’s policy of engagement without recognition, according to reports.
"We do not see any concrete substance in it except for its declarative and political [nature], which to some extent provides covering for the Georgian strategy of so-called occupied territories," Maxim Gvinjia told Abkhaz television. "We are ready for cooperation with Europe if this cooperation is not imposed on us through Georgia. We won't be establishing contacts with the European Union through Georgia."
Gvinjia also urged European leaders to formally recognize Abkhazia as a separate nation.
"In the future Europe will be ready to have really civilized dialogue with Abkhazia and the West will change its attitude towards the issue of recognition of Abkhazia," Gvinjia said.
At the moment, Europe "is not ready for cooperation with Abkhazia in the way it should be. … But it can't last forever; it's impossible to ignore reality for so long. ... Non-recognition of Abkhazia by the West and the EU is not our problem, it's their problem."
He also said in the same televised interview that visits from the leaders of the countries that had recognized Abkhazia were expected in 2011, online news outlet Civil Georgia reported.
Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru have followed Russia's suit in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In December 2009, the EU agreed on "parameters for non-recognition and an engagement policy for Abkhazia and South Ossetia" aimed at carving out political and legal space within which the EU can interact with the breakaway regions without recognizing them.
In an interview with Civil.ge last May, Peter Semneby, the EU's special representative for the South Caucasus, said both the non-recognition and engagement "are indispensable parts of one policy."
"Non-recognition without engagement is counterproductive; it will only lead to raising barriers between the Georgians and people in these regions," he said. "But engagement without non-recognition part is a policy that would entail a risk that any step that we take could be instrumentalized in various ways and misused to stake claims in this dispute about status. Engagement is not about status, but in order to disassociate engagement from the status we have to be clear where we stand on the status issue," he said.
"We do not see any concrete substance in it except for its declarative and political [nature], which to some extent provides covering for the Georgian strategy of so-called occupied territories," Maxim Gvinjia told Abkhaz television. "We are ready for cooperation with Europe if this cooperation is not imposed on us through Georgia. We won't be establishing contacts with the European Union through Georgia."
Gvinjia also urged European leaders to formally recognize Abkhazia as a separate nation.
"In the future Europe will be ready to have really civilized dialogue with Abkhazia and the West will change its attitude towards the issue of recognition of Abkhazia," Gvinjia said.
At the moment, Europe "is not ready for cooperation with Abkhazia in the way it should be. … But it can't last forever; it's impossible to ignore reality for so long. ... Non-recognition of Abkhazia by the West and the EU is not our problem, it's their problem."
He also said in the same televised interview that visits from the leaders of the countries that had recognized Abkhazia were expected in 2011, online news outlet Civil Georgia reported.
Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru have followed Russia's suit in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In December 2009, the EU agreed on "parameters for non-recognition and an engagement policy for Abkhazia and South Ossetia" aimed at carving out political and legal space within which the EU can interact with the breakaway regions without recognizing them.
In an interview with Civil.ge last May, Peter Semneby, the EU's special representative for the South Caucasus, said both the non-recognition and engagement "are indispensable parts of one policy."
"Non-recognition without engagement is counterproductive; it will only lead to raising barriers between the Georgians and people in these regions," he said. "But engagement without non-recognition part is a policy that would entail a risk that any step that we take could be instrumentalized in various ways and misused to stake claims in this dispute about status. Engagement is not about status, but in order to disassociate engagement from the status we have to be clear where we stand on the status issue," he said.
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