Abkhazia pulls out of Geneva talks

SUKHUM -- “The Republic of Abkhazia has informed the Office of the Secretariat overseeing the five-party talks directed at peace and security in the Caucasus that it is temporarily withdrawing from future discussions because the sessions have not produced tangible progress. The talks come out of provisions in the Sarkozy-Medvedev Agreement that followed the 2008 war in which Georgia attacked the Republic of South Ossetia, resulting in a defensive action by the Russian Federation that thwarted Georgian aggression. These talks are aimed at establishing a dialogue between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia and are co-moderated by the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

“My Government believes the concept of the Geneva talks is sound, and we want to be active participants in a series of discussions which are productive. We regret having to make this decision at this time. We have done so because the co-moderators have consistently failed to facilitate the talks in a constructive and impartial manner.

“The Abkhaz Government will return to the proceedings when the co-moderators present a concrete document that includes propositions from all of the parties and enables open discussion and debate. We hope that such a document will be forthcoming in a reasonable timeframe.”

Nadir Bitiev,
Senior Aide and Deputy Official Representative to the President
Republic of Abkhazia