Irakli Mezurnishvili, a member of the parliamentary majority, responded to the public comment made by the head of the Georgian Office of National Democratic Institute (NDI), Laura Thornton, who states that the US president cannot even find Georgia on the map.

Irakli Mezurnishvili calls on the head of the NDI Georgia Office to apologize. The MP held a briefing on this issue today.

As Mezurnishvili noted this ironic or unintentional comment promotes the idea that Georgia is so small and insignificant to the West that it cannot even be found on the map

“I would like to respond to the public comment made by the head of the NDI office of Georgia, Mrs. Laura Thornton a few days ago that the US President cannot find Georgia on the map. So Mrs. Thornton claims that the president of our main strategic partner – the United States, which closely cooperates with our country, strongly supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and strongly condemns the occupation of our country – does not even know where our borders are!? Regrettably, this ironic or unintentional comment promotes the idea that Georgia is so small and insignificant to the West that it cannot even be found on the map” – Mezurnishvili said.

According to Majority MP such irresponsible statements are insulting for both Georgia and the United States, especially from the head of the authoritative organization like NDI.

“I would like to remind Mrs. Thornton that NDI has expressed strong support for our country during the last 25 years. The role of this organization is very important in establishing and developing Georgia as a new democratic state. Georgia is always grateful to the people who are initiators and implementers of this support for Georgia – Mrs. Madeleine Albright, Mr. Kenneth Wollak and others, who always defended Georgia’s interests. We have such friends in the current Senate, the House of Representatives and the Presidential Administration as well.

the scales of partnership between the US and Georgia are increasing, Georgian and American soldiers are protecting peace and security in the anti-terrorist coalition format and the US political leadership takes vital decisions for Georgia. I appeal to the head of the NDI office to publicly apologize for this statement, because such statements serve only the interest of the enemy of the US and Georgia,” said Mezurnishvili.