"I don’t think that only Georgia will lose out from not being invited to the NATO summit. Friendship cannot be one-sided. If NATO recognizes our friendship, it must recognize it fully," said Tengiz Sharmanashvili, a deputy from the "Georgian Dream" party, while speaking about the NATO summit.

According to him, Georgia is not a NATO member and does not have a Membership Action Plan (MAP), therefore "they are not obligated to invite us to the summit."

"We are reliable partners of NATO. We have shed a lot of blood and have never let NATO down. Even under this government, we fully participated in the Afghanistan operation. Whether they invite us or not is another matter, but since we are neither members nor have a MAP, they are not obligated to invite us anywhere. I don’t think that only Georgia will lose out from not being invited. Let’s not look at everything as if we are such a pitiful country that everyone is needed by us. We are also needed by everyone. They will also be depriving themselves if they do not treat such reliable partners well. We are always ready to be honest and straightforward with our partners. We have even shed blood for this. Let them look at their own members — how they behaved in Afghanistan. They didn’t stick their noses out of the headquarters and didn’t even go near the windows in case a stray bullet hit them. They left without a single scratch on any soldier’s foot — meaning they didn’t take part in any operations. Meanwhile, we have hundreds of wounded. Sacrifice is not measured only by fatalities. So this friendship cannot be one-sided. If NATO recognizes our friendship, it should recognize it fully. We are ready to prove it and will continue to prove it in the future if necessary," Sharmanashvili stated.

For information: Today and tomorrow, Turkey is hosting the 36th Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). Leaders of the 32 member countries, including U.S. President Donald Trump, are gathering in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. At today’s planned dinner, in addition to NATO leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, European Council President António Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also participate. According to media reports, within the framework of the summit, NATO foreign ministers will meet with their counterparts from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and will also hold talks with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas. NATO defense ministers, in turn, will hold talks with their Australian, Japanese, New Zealand, and South Korean counterparts. According to information on NATO’s website, the leaders will discuss three main topics at the summit: investments in defense, increasing defense production, and support for Ukraine.