The President of Georgia met with the rescued sailors and their families at the building of the Constitutional Court of Georgia in Batumi today. Mikheil Saakashvili decorated Giorgi Karbelashvili with St. George's Victory Order for his extraordinary contribution in the process of rescuing the Georgian sailors from captivity of Somalian pirates.

“Unfortunately Giorgi Karbelashvili has been in the hospital since yesterday – he was infected with a virus in Africa and he did not feel very well on the plane. He had a tough night, but the doctors verified that his condition is stable. I do not want to postpone decorating him. I would like to wish Giorgi a quick recovery on your behalf too.” – noted the President. Mikheil Saakashvili also spoke about the merit of Giorgi Karbelashvili and recalled his ancestors, who did state business despite huge risks. “By the way, the Georgian Church has declared his grandfather a saint. The Karbelashvili brothers, who were the largest gatherers of Georgian chants, did a great state job. Back then, this was very risky business. Giorgi is a direct descendant of the Karbelashvili brothers and the business of his homeland is in his blood. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this very tough affair was victorious and I would like to congratulate him as well”, – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

The President of Georgia also spoke about the contribution of the Head of the Government of Adjara – Levan Varshalomidze in the process of rescuing the sailors. He later decorated Levan Varshalomidze with the Presidential Order of Excellence.

“During this entire period, the Head of the Government of Adjara relentlessly worked on this issue, approached everyone, constantly calling, and was very worried…I think it is important for us that there is a whole group of different members of government, whose priority is caring about the people. None of the recent eras of Georgia remember such a thing. I think Levan Varshalomidze has several other merits as well and all of you would agree with me on this. However, my main criterion of a person’s value is still how much a person can share the lives of others, share breath, and handle business well at the same time. There is no person for whom Levan Varshalomidze would not fight for and without any concern for himself. I think the Presidential Order of Excellence is a merited award for him” – stated the President of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili decorated the Captain of the sailors – Memed Zakaradze with an Order of Honor and noted that a professional with his experience is extremely important in terms of developing his sphere.

“I would like to once again thank all of the sailors, each one of you, for incredible persistence and honor and first of all, I would like to give a Order of Honor to Captain Memed Zakaradze. This is symbolic, because he is the one representing your crew. He has been serving in this sphere for a long time and he has great merit. He raised a lot of young sailors…Mr. Memed, I would like to tell you that your experience and others like you will be extremely useful to us” – noted the Head of  State.

The President moved to the Square of Europe on their behalf. Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the audience from the stage and congratulated the sailors on the safe return to their homeland once again.

“I am very glad that our stars have expressed interest in welcoming our guys to help celebrate their safe return with them – this is what we wanted for a long time. I would not wish for the enemy what they have been through, but what has been happening in this recent period is a clear example of the fact that Georgia has reached true statehood and it will fight for the freedom of its citizens to the very end. Even if we have to put on iron shoes, travel the world, and crawl through the eye of a needle, we will do anything in order to protect our citizens, in the present day, and in the future. Most of these people have not been to Batumi in 2 years. It would be nice if they had a chance to greet their fellow Batumians. I was very happy when they stepped out of the plane in Turkey yesterday and I am happy in Batumi today. I would like to wish each one of you happiness, freedom, and a better future” – stated the President of Georgia.

A famous Georgian singer – Niaz Diasamidze opened the concert and many Georgian performers participated later.