Speaker:Georgia needs generation with love for its country, historical memory, and wisdom

“Desire alone is not enough for peace. Peace is responsibility, knowledge and ability. It is the ability not to be carried away by emotion in difficult moments, and not to turn a difference of opinion into enmity. It is the ability not to mistake provocation for courage, and not to put your own country at risk for someone else’s interests. And, most difficult of all, peace is the ability to one day be able to speak again with a person who has become your enemy,” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in his address at the “Youth for Peace” event marking the International Day of Peace.

According to Papuashvili, a policy of peace does not mean inaction and, even less so, weakness, adding that peace sometimes requires greater strength than confrontation.

Papuashvili said Georgia needs a generation that will have love for its country, historical memory and sufficient wisdom never to become part of a scenario written by others.

“I am pleased that we are once again gathering to mark the International Day of Peace, and I am especially pleased that young people are the main participants in this meeting.

When speaking about peace, we often say that young people are our future. However, I believe this is only partly true. Young people are not only the future; they are already the present — through their choices, words, actions and responsibilities. That is why it is important what we think about peace today.

Our generation did not learn about peace from books and films. Following the restoration of independence, Georgia experienced civil conflict, wars, displacement, the occupation of territories and the 2008 war. Therefore, for us, peace is not an abstract word. Peace is a way of life — being committed to finding, both within the country and beyond its borders, ways of living together and coexisting that are acceptable to all, without violence and confrontation.

Time passes. A generation is coming that has not personally experienced the reality we faced during the first 20 years after the restoration of independence. This is precisely why we work to ensure that the new generation does not experience war. At the same time, it is our responsibility to pass on not only the experience of war, but also the experience of peace.

Desire alone is not enough for peace. Peace is responsibility, knowledge and ability. It is the ability not to be carried away by emotion in difficult moments. It is the ability not to turn a difference of opinion into enmity. It is the ability not to mistake provocation for courage. It is the ability not to put your own country at risk for someone else’s interests. And, most difficult of all, peace is the ability to one day be able to speak again with a person who has become your enemy.

We Georgians should understand this particularly well.

Georgia’s territorial integrity has been violated. Historical regions of our country are occupied. On different sides of the occupation line live people between whom distrust, pain and alienation have accumulated over decades. In this sense, we are still in a state of war. But we cannot overcome war through war. What enmity has destroyed, love has built. This great aphorism by Rustaveli is not merely beautiful words. It is our national wisdom accumulated over millennia, which has helped us survive as a nation.

Our task cannot be limited to restoring the country’s territorial integrity and returning displaced persons to their homes. Our task is also to restore human connections. Reconciliation with Abkhaz and Ossetians cannot be achieved solely through a document, a signature or a political decision. Genuine reconciliation will begin when people can once again see each other as human beings who shared a common past and may have a common future.

And this is precisely where your generation has a special role to play. You are not obliged to inherit the enmity of previous generations. You must know the past, but you must not become its prisoners. You must remember injustice, but that memory must not drive you toward new injustice. You must love your country in such a way that defending its interests does not require hatred of others.

This is the maturity required to build peace.

Today, we see a lack of this maturity all over the world. Wars are still being fought around us. People continue to die, cities are destroyed, and millions are forced to leave their homes.

In such a world, it is easy to talk about war. It is much harder to preserve peace. It is easy to call on others to make sacrifices. It is much harder to take responsibility for what will happen after such calls.

This is precisely where state responsibility begins — when making decisions, thinking not about how loudly your words sound today, but about what consequences they will bring to your country tomorrow.

That is why a policy of peace does not mean inaction and, even less so, weakness. Peace sometimes requires greater strength than confrontation.

Georgia needs a generation that will have love for its country, historical memory and sufficient wisdom never to become part of a scenario written by others. A generation that understands that patriotism means bringing peace, security and development to its country. And a generation that will one day be able to take the steps needed to bring Georgians, Abkhaz and Ossetians closer together again. This is why this event and the ‘Peace Award’ are important.

I especially congratulate today’s winners.

Thank you to every young person who, through their work, contributes to trust, mutual understanding and reconciliation among people.

Thank you to Ms. Tea Akhvlediani and the Office of the State Minister for establishing this tradition and promoting the involvement of young people in peacebuilding processes.

We can leave many things to future generations — a strong economy, modern infrastructure, education and institutions. But the most valuable legacy one generation can pass on to another is a peaceful, united and free country.

It is our responsibility to hand over such a Georgia to you. It will be your responsibility to pass an even stronger Georgia on to the next generation.

I wish you success. I congratulate you on the International Day of Peace,” Papuashvili said.