Mikhail Saakashvili urges Adjarian leadership to submit to statehood rules of Georgia

The leadership of the Adjarian autonomy is to submit to the statehood rules of Georgia, its President Mikhail Saakashvili told the cabinet sitting on Monday, April 5.

"I propose to the authorities of Adjaria to fit, before it is too late, in the new statehood landscape of Georgia because I will not let anyone, be it a minister of the central government, myself or more so a local leader or a feudal, to violate the rights of any citizen of Adjaria", he said commenting on the situation in the Adjarian autonomy.

Georgia will not be a prosperous country if the present situation prevails in Adjaria, Saakashvili said.

"We will not allow human rights in Adjaria to be trampled underfoot because somebody there wants to preserve his material status and monopoly", said Mikhail Saakashvili.

He stressed that the people of the autonomy are full-fledged citizens of Georgia and its leadership "has all the resources to ensure that".

"Georgia is no longer a banana republic. People willing to live on in a banana republic are very nervous about that", the Georgian head of state said.

Saakashvili recalled that, on his instruction, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania will go to Batumi for talks with the leadership of the autonomy on the delimitation of authorities between the centre and the region.