The speaker of parliament in Georgia has played down the subject about current threats against the country, which came during a debate in parliament after President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s first annual address to parliament on Friday.

GHN offers an article dedicated to the mentioned issue which was originally published by DFWatch.

Gubaz Sanikidze, a member of parliament for the Georgian Dream coalition, said Friday that ‘it will be Georgia’s turn after Ukraine’ and begged the president to think it over.

The comment came during a debate in parliament after President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s first annual address to parliament on Friday.

Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili said the same evening on a talk show that he doesn’t think there are any threats against Georgia in 2014.

Usupashvili wrote off Sanikidze’s question as an attempt to “alert parliament and society” to the challenges ahead. But, he continued, he is constantly talking about these threats, only in different words.

The speaker said he thinks Georgia should be patient and take care to maintain the course toward integration with Europe and that this process is unstoppable.

“I mean that some things are expected and we must endure it and be patient,” he said. “When it comes to the statement that after Ukraine it will be Georgia’s turn, I don’t think Gubaz meant that tomorrow blood will be spilled in Georgia and this will be the scenario.”

He said, when two months before the Vilnius Summit two countries, Armenia and Ukraine, were expelled from the list of countries who should have signed the Association Agreement and there is tension in Moldova, against such a background, he believes Georgia should take care to strengthen its position, not only on the international stage, but also inside the country.

“There are uncertainties, and if those forces who don’t want our European integration, joining NATO, won’t just wait for the following months – the threats are different,” he said, adding that Georgia has a threat Ukraine didn’t have – armed occupation forces on its territory and their military bases illegally constructed by Russia.

“As speaker of parliament I cannot describe a scenario which we may see tomorrow, but without specification – there are a couple of meters between the armed soldiers on Georgian territory and the population.”

Usupashvili said it is good that Georgia is not dependent on Russia for energy.