Yerevan/Mediamax/. We have had great figures whose either mother or father was ethnic Armenian or representative of other nation. Georgia consists of all these ethnic groups.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said this in the interview to “Special Reporter” program, “Georgia-Online” reports.

According to the President, the recently adopted Georgian law “On religious confessions” would have been adopted even if 100 000 people went out to streets. “Eight years ago, when this law was planned to be adopted, about 100 000 people went out to streets in Tbilisi and organized a protest action. The then-authorities postponed the consideration of the draft law,” Saakashvili said.

The Georgian President also touched upon the rumors about his ethnic origin.

“Representatives of one of Armenian TV companies came to record an interview with me. They told me they knew about my Armenian origin, adding that they were afraid I could have a complex about this. I told them it would be  a great honor for me to be an Armenian. The only problem is that I am not an Armenian.”

There was another TV program- a survivor of the Soviet epoch appeared and said Saakashvili was an Armenian. My mother called me asking why nobody said that I was not an Armenian. We are the mixture of all ethnic groups, a country with big civilization,” the Georgian leader stressed.

Mediamax recalls that in early July the Georgian parliament approved the amendments to the Civil Code in the second reading, according to which 5 religious unifications were granted a legal status: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Roman-Catholic Church, the Muslim Community, the Jewish Community and the Baptist Church. The amendments were signed by President Mikhail Saakashvili. The decision though, was condemned by the Georgian Orthodox Church and personally by Patriarch Ilia II, who said that this decision will entail negative consequences both for the Church and for the state on the whole.