Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili addressed members of the public and the government on 18 August and urged “let’s all unite and make next year a great festive year for European Georgia!”
President Zurabishvili’s address was made while visiting Didi Jikhaishi, the birthplace of key Georgian writer, pro-European public figure, and the President’s great-grandfather, Niko Nikoladze. In that context, the President emphasized that she was addressing Georgia from there because “… next year we have to celebrate the 180th anniversary of Niko Nikoladze’s birth… at the same time, for us, for Georgia, next year will be a decisive year on our European path, and this is probably not a coincidence.”
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“Niko Nikoladze was the one who most prepared Georgia for Europe and who brought Europe to Georgia,” she said. “Therefore, it will be very appropriate that the next year be jointly the year of Niko and Europe.”
President Zurabishvili denoted that an international conference may be needed to study and popularize Nikoladze’s activities, alongside European partners, and more importantly, to “study what Niko Nikoladze’s European path was.”
“… I very much hope that this will be a matter of truly national consensus,” the President concluded.
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