Salome Zourabishvili: "All Georgians have the right to citizenship by origin
Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili said at the Forum of Diasporas at the Georgian Foreign Ministry that all Georgians by blood have the right to receive Georgian citizenship and demanded to facilitate the procedure.
According to her, the interagency commission for granting Georgian citizenship often refuses people of Georgian origin under different formulas, including "no relation to the country.
At the same time, she cited the example of Israel, which "takes care of every Jew".
"Every Georgian who wants to return, restore, obtain citizenship - has the right to do so. It doesn't matter when he came to Georgia, how many times he came, whether he owns any property here or not... Is it written in the law to use these criteria! Why is some official on the commission making up what the new additional criteria should be...?
We don't care if these people will be our citizens tomorrow! Tomorrow a new Demna Gvasalia, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will be born among them in another country and then we will say: "Oh, it turns out he is Georgian!" - Zourabishvili stated.
They are our children no matter where they live. I don't care if they lived in Russia or America... Why are we sending money for some dances? This is not defending the diaspora or helping the diaspora... What are we worried about, what are we afraid of?!
We should not come up with some reasons why we do not give citizenship (to the Georgian diaspora)", the president said.
You have to make them feel that they are a part of what's going on in the country and not just by sending money and helping families here. They have a very large contribution to our development which we don't realize often", Zourabishvili said reminding us of the huge number of Georgian specialists, including doctors, working worldwide.
Zourabishvili reached out to the Georgian diaspora, expressed regret that she couldn't meet many in person and invited to post questions and requests via her social media pages, promising to respond "at any time."
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Salome Zourabishvili: "All Georgians have the right to citizenship by origin
Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili said at the Forum of Diasporas at the Georgian Foreign Ministry that all Georgians by blood have the right to receive Georgian citizenship and demanded to facilitate the procedure.
According to her, the interagency commission for granting Georgian citizenship often refuses people of Georgian origin under different formulas, including "no relation to the country.
At the same time, she cited the example of Israel, which "takes care of every Jew".
"Every Georgian who wants to return, restore, obtain citizenship - has the right to do so. It doesn't matter when he came to Georgia, how many times he came, whether he owns any property here or not... Is it written in the law to use these criteria! Why is some official on the commission making up what the new additional criteria should be...?
We don't care if these people will be our citizens tomorrow! Tomorrow a new Demna Gvasalia, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will be born among them in another country and then we will say: "Oh, it turns out he is Georgian!" - Zourabishvili stated.
They are our children no matter where they live. I don't care if they lived in Russia or America... Why are we sending money for some dances? This is not defending the diaspora or helping the diaspora... What are we worried about, what are we afraid of?!
We should not come up with some reasons why we do not give citizenship (to the Georgian diaspora)", the president said.
You have to make them feel that they are a part of what's going on in the country and not just by sending money and helping families here. They have a very large contribution to our development which we don't realize often", Zourabishvili said reminding us of the huge number of Georgian specialists, including doctors, working worldwide.
Zourabishvili reached out to the Georgian diaspora, expressed regret that she couldn't meet many in person and invited to post questions and requests via her social media pages, promising to respond "at any time."
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