Seven years have passed since the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, and the Georgians are still seeking a normalization process and de-escalation in tension with Russia.

Seven years have passed since the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, and the Georgians are still seeking a normalization process and de-escalation in tension with Russia.

In a recent interview with Anadolu Agency to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia War and the 22nd anniversary of the 1992-93 War in Abkhazia, Georgian Ambassador to Turkey Irakli Koplatadze said that his country's main foreign policy agenda was now to join the NATO alliance.

"NATO membership remains a top priority of Georgia’s foreign and security policy agenda. We are optimistic that the Warsaw NATO Summit [in 2016] will positively evaluate the homework done by Georgian side within the substantive package granted to Georgia at the 2014 Wales Summit," Koplatadze said.

The Georgian envoy also said that Turkey, which was Georgia’s number one trade partner, also welcomed his country's EU and NATO aspirations.

Turkey supported the UN General Assembly resolution on the “Status of IDPs [internally displaced peoples] and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia” on June 3, 2015.

"We wish other big neighbors also to have the same constructive and friendly vision in regards of their neighbors as Turkey has. This would bring stability and prosperity to the region," Koplatadze said.

However, Russia does not approve of Georgia’s NATO and EU ambitions.

"Unfortunately, it is not easy to convince Russia that we want to join NATO not [because Georgia is] against any country but for ourselves; we want to join EU for the same reason; we want our country to be a better place to live in, not against somebody, but for our future generation," he added.

In early 1990s, Moscow responded to Georgia’s move to independence with alleged open military and economic support to separatist forces in the country’s two regions: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The situation escalated into armed hostilities, resulting reportedly in large number of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians and other ethnicities from those regions.