"Any dispute between the centre and the provinces should be resolved through talks. I am aware that the president of Georgia has submitted for parliamentary consideration a project concerning the abolition of Adjaria's security ministry. I am also aware of the autonomy's position being counter to this decision. But I am not informed of an ultimate concerted agreement on this score," said Burdjanadze.
It was on March 6 that president Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia submitted at parliament a bill on abolishing the security ministry of the Adjar republic.
"Georgia has one constitution and therefore there should be only one security ministry," noted Saakashvili in a talk with reporters in Tbilisi. According to him, some Adjar security ministry officials are engaged in espionage to the detriment of Georgia.
For their part, the Adjar leaders have reacted in an extremely negative manner toward the Georgian president's initiative. "The demand by the Georgian president to abolish the Adjar security ministry provokes an eruption of a new confrontation between the centre and the regions," Adjar Interior Minister Djemal Gogitidze said in Batumi. According to him, the Adjar leadership is not going to abolish the national security ministry.
