When you tell a young man or woman that they must become fake clerics to avoid the army and serving their country, it is a disaster, a tragedy—Girchi is an antinational movement, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated.

According to the Head of Government, the most gratifying words are “We are serving Georgia, our country,” but Girchi, with its antinational campaign, has misled over 10,000 young people.

As the Prime Minister pointed out, work on the Defense Code started during his tenure as Defense Minister, and the new code, among others, will replace the malignant practice of young conscripts serving as guards in prisons and other sites.

“Work on the Defense Code started during my tenure as Defense Minister. And there are also key topics I would like to explain to our public. Today, the army is the highest-ranking institution alongside the Church. These are the two main pillars of our country. The Church, the police, and the army—these are the three main institutions. Our key task is to prepare a strong reserve. We are a small nation. We have rich military traditions. We are a strong nation of fighters, and we do not want malignant practices to take root in the country, such as the one carried out by Girchi.

This was one of the motivations, to overcome the Girchi challenge. Imagine this antinational and—I can say it boldly—antichristian phenomenon, an anti-Georgian phenomenon and anti-Georgian movement, because when you tell someone, the healthiest and finest representative of society, a young man or woman that they must become fake clerics, members of some inflatable church—I apologize for using this word—to avoid the army and serving their country, it is a disaster, a tragedy.

The most gratifying words we are proud of are ‘We are serving Georgia, our country.

More than 10,000 young people have been led astray. They are told to become clerics to avoid serving in the army. This is a disaster. This is why I started reforms back as Defense Minister—we invested heavily in infrastructure, modernized every base, armament, uniforms, everything, also equipment—and now formidable processes are underway in the armed forces.

We said that the malignant practice unfortunately in use to this day, meaning young conscripts serving as guards in prisons and other sites—I had discussions on this issue with the team, and we said that it could not go on. We want to prepare healthy patriots, members of our society, members of our youth. We want to offer them modern military training, basic combat training courses. These will last at least 6 months. If you spend 6 months in the army, where you will find the finest base, good equipment, good conditions, excellent food, great training, you will leave a well-trained, accomplished, disciplined young person.

The second stage will span 8 months and 12 months, in the event you decide to stay in military service. As for the fuss about the return of compulsory military service and so on, today we already have hybrid service available, meaning both compulsory and contract-based, professional. We said that we will accept all these conscripts to serve at least 6 months in the army, and this period will count as served,” - Irakli Garibashvili said.

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