GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SET TO PROTECT ETHNIC MINORITIES

Kavkas-Press
24 May 07

Tbilisi, 24 May: The Georgian president intends to protect all
ethnic minorities’ rights to the end. "I will be an Azerbaijani for
those who hate Azerbaijanis, and I will be an Armenian for those who
hate Armenians. I have recently found that I am an Ossetian. I am
ready to be one, and I am ready to be a Jew. And in spite of this,
I will remain a 100-percent Georgian for many suspicious Georgians,
and proceeding precisely from this position I will protect all ethnic
minorities," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said today in
his welcoming speech at the second international symposium called
"Dialogue between globalization and civilization" held at Courtyard
Marriott Hotel [in Tbilisi].

The president recalled that, before the [November] 2003 [parliamentary]
election he and the late Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania were said to be
Armenians, while one respected politician said that Armenians should
not rule Georgia.

[passage on historical reference omitted]

The president stressed that representatives of ethnic minorities have
always "played and will play an important role in the state’s life".

[passage on historical reference omitted]