Eco-migrants Renounce Georgian Citizenship

Maka Malakmadze, Adjara

Eco-migrants who migrated back to Adjara region renounce Georgian citizenship and are planning to leave the country. They threw their passports and ID cards on the ground in the surrounding park of Adjara government building yesterday as a form of protest.

As eco-migrant Mevlud Vashakmadze states, despite numerous requests, government did not give him shelter. Therefore, they decided to show their protest in this form: “We were expecting positive response from the government. Their response is still negative. We are requesting temporary shelter in Adjara because we have nowhere else to go. We have been here for 45 days and the only thing done was that the Commission will study our matter, nothing else is done.”

Vazha Iakobadze, eco-migrant: “We are requesting shelter, if they do not pay attention, we will definitely leave Georgia.”

Eco-migrants went back to Batumi 45 days ago and have been spending nights on the streets since then. Years ago, they migrated to Tsalka from regions of Khulo and Shuakhevi. The houses which government gave to their possession were not registered as their ownership. Owners of most of these houses had migrated to Greece years ago. They recently came back and their ownership was returned to them.