13 April 2010, 22:00
Georgia's MFA: Georgian citizens who asked refuge in Israel will be most likely deported
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Georgia has officially confirmed the information that a group of Georgian tourists applied for political asylum in Israel, but at the same time found their demand unachievable.
The "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier that 45 pilgrims from Georgia addressed, after visiting during the Easter sacred places in Jerusalem, the immigration service of Israel with an appeal to grant political asylum to them.
As reported on April 12 by Nino Kalandadze, deputy minister of foreign affairs, at a briefing at the Georgia's MFA, the information about the tourists was received by the Ministry from employees of the consulate in Tel Aviv.
However, according to Ms Kalandadze, she has no data about how her compatriots had justified their request to authorities of Israel on political asylum, The Georgian Times reports.
At the same time, the MFA spokeswoman believes that the request of the Georgian citizens for political asylum in Israel could hardly be fulfilled.
"Citizens of Georgia think that it is easy to find job in Israel, but, unfortunately, this information is very far from reality; and Israel's policy on illegal migrants is very strict. Accordingly, the probability that their request will be rejected is rather high, and they will be deported back home," the "Echo of the Caucasus" Radio quotes Ms Kalandadze as saying.
Let us note here that in 2009 the number of Georgian citizens who applied abroad for the refugee status doubled as compared with 2008, as stated in the report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. Georgia was among ten leaders by refuge applicants (10,994 persons).
The Georgians' most demanded countries were Poland (4182 applications), Greece (2170), Austria (976), Germany (544) and Switzerland (536).
