During the joint sitting of the European Integration and Foreign Relations Committees attended by Rapporteur on Georgia, MEP Sven Mikser, Chairman of the Georgian parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samkharadze, urged the European Union to banish the term “South Ossetia” from its official lexicon.

As Samkharadze explained, Joseph Stalin coined the term “South Ossetia” in 1922, and the Georgian Constitution does not recognize it.

“You and the West are fighting Stalinist manifestations. Although, you use the term ‘South Ossetia’ in all your documents, which is a Stalinist term coined in 1922. Before that, it did not exist. Georgian Constitution does not recognize such a definition as ‘South Ossetia.’ So my request, a call, is to discuss how we can eliminate this term from your official documents. It is not pleasant to see the European Union or other states using the Stalinist term. If we need to make an official appeal, we will do it,” said Nikoloz Samkharadze.

In response to the urge, Sven Mikser said that the issue would be taken into notice in the future when drafting the documents in the European Parliament.