Abkhazian Memorial in Scotland to be Dismantled

A memorial dedicated to the Abkhaz victims of the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict in the city of Kilmarnock, Scotland, will be dismantled, Tamar Beruchashvili, Georgian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, confirmed.  

"Information about this memorial was posted on social networks. One of the main tasks of the Embassy of Georgia and generally the Georgian diplomacy is to use all means against the efforts of the Russian government to propagate the so-called independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As you know, many means are used for this – symbols, articles, cooperation with private companies, chambers of commerce, etc. Our task is to find such cases and neutralize them with the help of our partners and active dialogue with all parties, because there is often lack of information. Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty is the most important task of Georgia. In this direction, British partners traditionally support us very actively and it is expressed in our cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral levels. In this particular case, we received very serious support from London, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as well as from the local authorities in Scotland. First of all, we explained the situation after the Russian occupation (a historic excursion was also necessary). A month ago, I paid a visit to Scotland, where we had meetings with local authorities, parliament and other groups. We were promised that the Scottish authorities would talk to the local government of the city of Kilmarnock and explain the situation to them. They got full information, shared the position of the British state towards the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and the local council decided to dismantle this monument several days ago. This is definitely a good result. We really have the opportunity to find and neutralize similar cases based on trust and cooperation with our partners," Beruchashvili said.

The exact date of construction of the memorial is unknown, as the representatives on the local city council have long since changed, but is estimated that it was built somewhere around 1993-1996. 

Photo source: rferl.org

By Máté Földi