"Today we are united by something more, first of all our future, and our common interests - our desire that it never happen again” – stated Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality of Georgia on the day of the 25th anniversary of the fall of Sukhumi at the Memorial of Heroes, where she with other authorities paid tribute to their memory.

"25 years have passed since the terrible conflict that should not have happened and which does not have a winner either for Georgian or Abkhazian side. It is obvious today on the territory fenced with Russian barbed wire, because it is nothing but the declared chronicle of Russification”. 

“It's a 25-year-old pain that has never gone away, and this is a common pain, because it hurts both nations, Georgians and Abkhazians equally; Those people who have lost their relatives, those who are still unable to return to their homes, as well as the people who are in their homes, but are deprived of the hope and opportunities of future development, as being under the Russian occupation.”

"Though many things separate us, such as barbed wire and manmade barricades, the bitter experience of conflict and a certain alienation over 25 years of separation, there are even more things that unite us. I mean not only our past, traditional and cultural proximity and mixed families. First, this is our common interest that a conflict never happens again, never to get involved in the provocations, and have a better, developed and peaceful future. Caring for a peaceful future implies the elimination of confrontations that can only be achieved through dialogue and reconciliation. This is our vision, business and the only way to the future - we must return each other,” Tsikhelashvili stated.