TBILISI, September 16. /TASS/. Reconciliation between Georgians and Abkhazians and Ossetians is impossible without apologizing and forgiving, Mamuka Mdinaradze, executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream Democratic Georgia party, said.
"Our heroes died in the name of the idea of united Georgia and it will take reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Abkhazia and Ossetia to make it happen. And reconciliation is impossible without tendering apologies. There are two way to resolve a conflict - a war or forgiving each other. We are opting the path of forgiveness," he said.
"Political resolve and courage are needed to implement the idea of Georgia’s unification and part of this courage is apologizing where necessary for mutual forgiveness," he noted.
The party’s founder Bidzina Ivanishvili said on September 14 that Georgia would find courage to apologize to the Ossetians for the war launched in August 2008 by then President Mikheil Saakashvili. He blamed the former president for unleashing the war on orders from outside. Ivanishvili’s statement outraged the opposition and part of the country’s society, including widows of soldiers who died during the 2008 war. They claim that this statement recognizes Georgia’s responsibility for the war.