Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and President Margvelashvili in Marneuli, March 21, 2017. Photo: Government Administration

President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited the town of Marneuli in Kvemo Kartli region on March 21 on the occasion of Nowruz festivities.

Nowruz, a holiday marking spring equinox, which is widely celebrated by a large Muslim community in Georgia, was declared as a national holiday in Georgia in 2010.

“I would like to thank you for your devotion to strengthening our homeland,” President Margvelashvili said in his address to an outdoor gathering in the town of Marneuli, predominately populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis.

“Georgian citizens of Azerbaijani origin are important components of common Georgian state,” Margvelashvili added.

“For a long time, we have been building a strong country together, our homeland – Georgia, standing side by side in hardship and joy. And I am sure that, together, our future generations will build a better future for our country,” Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated in his speech.

“Our citizens of Azerbaijani origin are the wealth of our nation,” Kvirikashvili said.

“I am also glad that you are maintaining close ties with Azerbaijan, our friendly, brotherly country,” the Prime Minister added.

Similar messages were voiced Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, who congratulated the Georgian Azerbaijanis with Nowruz in a written statement on March 21.

Stressing that Georgia is “a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic” society, Parliamentary Chairman said that Nowruz “is not a national day of our Azerbaijani compatriots only” and that “Georgians are also celebrating it.”

In Georgia’s 2014 population census, 233,000 people (6.3%) reported Azerbaijani origin. In Kvemo Kartli, they make 41.7% of the population.