Georgia abolishes Abkhazian, Adjarian State Security Ministries

The Georgian parliament, at the initiative of the Georgian State Security Ministry, on Tuesday abolished the State Security Ministries of Abkhazia and Adjaria. As reported by a Rosbalt correspondent, the announcement was made by the Georgian head of state security, Zurab Adeishvili, in parliament.

According to Adeishvili, there should not exist in Georgia regional state security ministries. 'We have the bitter experience of Adjaria as to what the existence of independent special services can lead to. They must all submit to the Georgian State Security Ministry, and correspondingly, to the central government of the country,' he said.

Not long before the Batumi revolution of May 5-6, the former head of Adjaria, Aslan Abashidze, at the insistence of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, abolished the Adjarian State Security Ministry. But in order for the move the become law, a corresponding act of parliament is required. As concerns the Abkhazian State Security Ministry, the issue concerns a government in exile, which was considered in Georgia to be a legitimate, self-supporting structure.

Correspondingly, all of the abolished structures of state security in Adjaria and Abkhazia now come under the authority of the Georgian State Security Ministry. In particular, this concerns the government protection service, as well as the counterintelligence and intelligence services.