A group of Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani origin held protest outside the building of Georgian parliament on Friday demanding to remove the statue of Karabakh war hero Michael Avagyan that was unveiled in Bugashen village of Georgia’s Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

According to social media posts, the protesters accused Avagyan for ‘separatism’ and asserted that erection of the statue undermines Georgian-Azerbaijani friendly relations.

The statue is of a native to the region – Mikhael Avagyan, who died during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, was solemnly opened on January 20 in his native village. The ceremony was attended by the Armenian Ambassador Ruben Sadoyan, the head of the district administration, the local government as well as members of the Georgian parliaments of Armenian origin.
This has caused outrage on social media and a strong reaction from Azerbaijan, that even summoned the Georgian Ambassador in Baku.