Georgia’s unilateral decision to revoke visa-free travel rules for Iranian citizens will have negative impact on bilateral ties, a senior Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday according to Iran’s Fars News Agency (FNA).
“The Georgian government curries favor with its western and American masters in an attempt to gain some advantages from them in return,” Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy chairman of Iranian Parliament’s foreign affairs and national security committee, was quoted by FNA.
“Such behavior has few precedents in the history of Iran-Georgia ties and will negatively affect Tehran-Tbilisi relations,” he said.
On July 3 Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who chairs Parliament’s foreign affairs and national security committee, also criticized Georgia for canceling visa-free rules and said that the Georgian authorities “don’t respect their own signatures on the agreement.”
Georgia and Iran signed an agreement on 45-day visa-free travel rules in November, 2010 when then Foreign Minister of Iran visited Georgia.
The agreement went into force in late January, 2011, which contributed to increase in number of visits from Iran to Georgia from about 21,300 in 2010 to over 89,600 in 2012.
Georgia unilateral revoked the visa-free rules starting from July 1.