The State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili visited the village of Gugutiantkari where she got acquainted with the situation and met with the local population.

She received detailed information on the effects of illegal wire fencing and the needs of the population.

“Unfortunately, what we are seeing now – barricades and illegal wires, is not a new phenomenon. What is happening today in Gugutianthkari - so-called illegal borderization - is a manifestation that we are living in the conditions of the current occupation, and the process has actually begun in 2008, also in August. Such activities we also had in 2009-2011, and in 2013 there were major episodes. In the middle of our country more than one hundred villages are divided into different ways. Their farmland is covered with barbed wire.

"Obviously, what I've seen here today - in this village where the barbed wire is already being built, second-order barricades do nothing but create additional tension, which is a measure against people. The main aim of my arrival today is to meet the locals and see the situation with my own eyes. Representatives of the state are constantly here. My task is to identify the damage caused by the occupational policy directed against these people, and, of course, help to strengthen local population.

"They are doing their best by being here, growing on this land and continuing to live very steadily. This should definitely continue. As you know, for 5 years we have been helping all the villages along the dividing line and try to solve their problems that they had accumulated in previous years. Whether it be gas, water, student funding and so on.  

“This support will be strengthened in the future in this village and surrounding areas with the same problems. The State will strengthen the help to people. This is our answer to the barbed wire policy. I am sure that with such stubbornness, with peace, with a very principled policy, first of all by standing up to these people, we will be able to break these ugly wires peacefully", - said the State Minister.

Before the arrival of Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, representatives of the State Minister's Office were in Gugutiantkari and were observing the ongoing processes during the day.