Press Digest 17.09.2014

Petre Mamradze -- Margvelashvili hopes that one day he will feel vindicated…

President does not plan to move to the opposition – Zakaria Kutsnashvili

Gypsy Market restoration work starts today

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Petre Mamradze -- Margvelashvili hopes that one day he will feel vindicated…

"In 2011, President Margvelashvili published a letter – “Nichurta – I am Georgian,” in which he wrote that a dream to build a real Georgian state, is ephemeral, and they are only pretending as if they have seriously gotten down to building a state. Only one who turns out smart and flexible enough to overtake others thanks to his determination to go and get what he wants will be a winner. And others will obviously be losers…” declares Former head of the Chancellery, Petre Mamradze in his interview with the Rezonansi gazette.

“First Margvelashvili was dead set against settling in Saakashvili’s residence, which, in his mind, was a symbol of the latter’s corrupt regime; however, later he reversed his decision. As you know after the elections, Saakashvili and his entourage urged the President to settle there and in this way maintain the President’s institute. Only God knows what has made him change his mind; however, the actual fact is that by doing this, he rendered service to the Nationals,” states Mr. Mamradze.

“Reports fly that within the Nationals, Margvelashvili has a number of acquaintances, former classmates and friends, and their influence on him is great. That is why Ivanishvili’s statement as per which they are trying to lead Margvelashvili around to their point of view can easily ring true. Simply remember how he played for time and tried to remove the classified markings by publicizing the documents incriminating Saakasshvili who depleted the state budget for the private purposes as late as possible. Having found itself in an impasses because of Margvelashvili’s irrational behavior, The Prosecutor’s Office openly stated that the President refused to publicize these documents; only then he decided to comply with their request by expressing his dissatisfaction with the Prosecutor’s Office move to let the public know that he first refused to do this,” says the respondent.

“I have known Mr. Margvelashvili for years, and when he makes a speech, I realize that he is deeply insulted and hopes that one day he will get even with everyone who humiliated him. One day I will feel vindicated -- today this is the policy of the Georgian politicians, whose faces are set in a sulky come-on,” maintains Petre Mamradze and to the question whether or not a rift between the President and the Government will have any major negative effect on the country’s image, he replies:

“The situation is our country was smile-provoking for our western partners at first; today they stopped laughing… however, in the West allegations go that under Saakashvili our country was ruled by presumptuous, impertinent and cantankerous children and nothing has changed here since then…

President does not plan to move to the opposition – Zakaria Kutsnashvili

“As member of parliamentary majority, Zakaria Kutsnashvili, states, after a 2-hour dialogue with the President, they agreed on a number of issues; however, as per him there are still left some issues regarding which thy proved unable to reach a consensus. As for the President’s presumptuous decision to join the opposition, if we believe the deputy, this is absolutely excluded. We would like to remind our reader of the fact that Deputy Zakaria Kutsnashvili held a meeting with President Margvelashvili yesterday, at the Avlabari Palace, and the Rezonansi gazette tried to pin him down on further details regarding this meeting,” reports the Rezonanis gazette.

“I wanted to clear up all this misunderstanding by meeting with the President; as a temporary representative of my people, I am liable to answer their questions. A rift between the President and the Government must be healed once and for all,” announces Mr. Kutsnashvili.

“Obviously, you are interested whether or not Margvelashvili views himself as a political rival of the Government. I posed this question to him, and the core issue which we have discussed during the meeting was precisely this. Mr. Margvelashvili has directly told me that he has never deemed himself to be a political adversary of the Government as this would be detrimental for the country; and we have agreed that he will take the floor and proclaim his stance publicly. He made it absolutely clear that he does not intend to create his own party or move to the opposition,” stated the deputy.

“A for his rights, I explained to him that as per our constitution, while holding negotiations, completing agreements and electing ambassadors, he must first hold consultations with the Government. He agreed with this and promised that he will observe this rule. He had one request though – he wants to be absolutely free and don’t rely on the Government while meeting with the leaders of the foreign countries. The third issue which we discussed was his communication with the majority which must be improved. The President promised that in the immediate future he will meet with the representatives of the majority and answer all their questions,” says the respondent.

“Our President is an independent figure and he knows this; I don’t think that he feels himself insulted or oppressed,” concludes Zakaria Kutsnashvili.

Gypsy Market restoration work starts today

"As local merchants say, the fire at the so-called gypsy market was the result of arson planned by several people interested in purchasing the area. They also maintain that some of their goods were stolen right before the fire started, since ashes of destroyed goods weren’t found. However, Governor of the region of Didube, Irma Zavradashvili refuses to verify the validity of the aforementioned information. In her words, a project on improving the market infrastructure has been filed at the City Hall; as per this project, the alienation of the market has not been planned.

We would like to remind our readers of the fact that Fire reportedly broke out in the so-called Gypsies’ Market in Tbilisi. A majoritarian deputy, Lado Dzneladze, Governor of the region of Didube, Irma Zavradashvili and Head of the Emergency Situation Management Center, Temur Giorgadze, visited the scene of the incident instantly. The area of 2 500 square meters was reportedly burnt. The merchants urge the government to launch an investigation into the case and reimburse their loss. As a result of the fire, one of the guards has allegedly sustained light burn wounds. Fortunately, fire was immediately put out,” reports the Rezonanis gazette.

"As local merchants say, the fire at the so-called gypsy market was the result of arson planned by several people interested in purchasing the area. They also say that some of their goods were stolen right before the fire started, since ashes of destroyed goods weren’t found. As the merchants maintain, they planned to alienate the market. Reports go that they intended to build a parking lot at the market. Others also claim that they wanted to build a hyper market “Karfur” there,” says the article.

“The merchants’ losses have not been calculated yet; however, as the victims say, the price of their merchandise hit around 50 thousand GEL. They also complain about the loans which they have taken out from banks and which they will hardly pay off now. The Rezoansi gazette tried to pin down the Governor of the region of Didube on further details regarding the issue. As the Governor claims, they will reimburse the losses of the local merchants by giving them 1500-2000 GEL. “In terms of the fire having broken out at the market I can say only one thing --- an investigation into the case has been launched and we will allocate some funds to reimburse the victims’ losses. Each and every person on whom the fire inflicted harm will receive a financial compensation,” declared the Governor and added that the allegation as per which the merchandise was deliberately set on fire is footless,” says the article.