"Peaceful Ways of Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus"

Chairman of the Georgian State Commission in charge of the return of Ahiska Turks and the State Minister of Conflict Resolution H.E. Giorgi Khaindrava visited Turkey during April 16-20, 2006 upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. As part of this visit, TOBB-ETU International Relations Department and the Economic Policy Research Institute (TEPAV|EPRI) jointly organized a meeting titled "Peaceful Ways of Conflict Resolution in the Caucasus".

During his speech, Khaindrava first adressed the roots of the current problems in Georgia and said that most of these problems date back to the period when Georgia was annexed to the Russian Empire. With Georgia losing its independence around 1816, the exile of Turkish speaking Muslim population from Georgia also begun. He mentioned that this process continued until 1910 and the territory that was left behind by them was replaced by the Russians, Armenians and Greeks coming from Russia. In the second part of his speech, Khaindrava talked about the three independent regions that were formed in 1920's. Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abhazia, Autonomous Republic of Acaria and the Automous Region of South Ossetia.

Lastly, Khaindrava explained that Georgian proposal to reach a peaceful conflict resolution in the region needs to entail three components. The plan that was also made public during the OSCE meeting in December first includes de-militarization of the region. Secondly, the region needs to be revitalized economically so that this would give way for the third component which is political stability.

After the question and answer section which followed Khaindrava's speech, the Minister visited the art exhibition at TOBB University of the Georgian artist Levan Misoashvili.