On May 26, Georgia's Independence Day, the participation of the American military in the event held at Freedom Square was canceled due to Bidzina Ivanishvili's anti-Western statements. This clarification was provided by the United States Embassy.
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"The participation of the US in the government event on May 26 was canceled due to the false narratives about the US by the ruling party, as presented in the April 29 statements of the honorary chairman of Georgian Dream.
The US remains a strong supporter of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and wants to see Georgia firmly integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community. We call on the Georgian government to return to this path," the embassy said.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, responded to the US Embassy's explanation, saying that if a politician's statement becomes the basis for such a decision, "it is up to them."
"This is about our Independence Day. This is our day, which we celebrate. If any friends want to join us in celebrating this day, we will be more than happy. If someone doesn't want to, it's our day. If a politician's statement is a reason for someone not to celebrate Independence Day in this format with the soldiers of their strategic partner country, who were walking through bullets with American soldiers in Afghanistan, it is their decision. We used to show our independence in a different way. We demonstrated it, among other things, by going toe-to-toe with American soldiers, while the majority of NATO countries kept their noses out of their headquarters in Afghanistan. We were on the front line," Papuashvili said.
For the first time in the last few years, the American military did not participate in the ceremonial event related to Georgia's Independence Day. American Ambassador Robin Dunnigan attended the event.
