Press Digets 19.11.2014
Irakli Alasania answers questions from the Alia gazette
Holding negotiations with Russia or Putin is like flogging a dead horse
Association Agreement Ratification process will not slump
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Irakli Alasania answers questions from the Alia gazette
"There is not even a shadow of doubt that the steps taken by the Prosecutor’s Office against me and the Defense Ministry are politically motivated since the investigation was still underway when they pressed these ungrounded charges against us. Moreover, I myself launched investigations into a number of cases. All these processes should have been followed up to a logical conclusion. Believe it or not, when I was in France and Germany raising such issues as upgrading Georgia’s military capabilities, they took this ridiculous step and apprehended my colleagues. By doing this, they treacherously stabbed us in the back and dealt a big blow to the Defense Ministry. Hence, I urged them to carefully look over the situation, to summon the political council and scrutinize each issue to the core; however, the Prime Minister has made different choice,” declares former Defense Minister, Irakli Alasania in his interview with the Alia gazette.
“Today my key task is to open the political space and enter our political scene along with my independent political team. By doing this, I want to empower the organizations within our party, to hold a dialogue with our people and get them ready for the elections. We seem to be coordinating with the Republicans; however, only time can tell us whether we will be in one group in the future. We can talk regarding partnership with them only when elections are closer,” states Mr. Alasania.
“The Premier’s words immensely hurt me. Unfounded allegations from the Prime Minister are nothing good for us. He cannot damage his reputation. This obviously does not fall within our interests. Although, ungrounded indictments issued by him is besmirching his name. As for us, we have never taken any step against the Coalition; we have never stained its reputation and have never posed any threats for its unity. They have repeatedly pelted me with a number of accusation; I succeeded in shielding them; however, finally, they still set upon us,” announces the former Minister.
“The visit that I’ve paid to France and Germany plus the agreements I have completed there are of really great national importance. All this is related to our security and defense system; however, I am not entitled to give all details away as this information is confidential. Thus, I strongly urge them to continue what I’ve started and see it through. However, if this process does not run smoothly, I will be bound to take the lid of this mess and tell the public absolutely everything,” says the respondent.
“As for Bidziana Ivanishvili, we had man to man talks regarding everything having taken place recently; we objectively judged our deeds and tried to figure out where mistakes were made. This is all that I can say about our meeting. I cannot expand on this topic any more as what was said behind closed doors cannot be publicized. Anyway it’s out of character for a settled man to publicize private talks. Despite the fact that now we are political adversaries, we must try our best to pursue the interests of our country and people,” concludes Georgia’s former Defense Minister.
Holding negotiations with Russia or Putin is like flogging a dead horse
"The representatives of the present and the former government can agree on some issues and the issue of Russia is among them,” states political expert Soso Tsiskarishvili in his interview with the Alia gazette.
"In my opinion, the Premier’s meeting with the new Secretary General of NATO, who once again focused on the issue of founding a NATO military training center in Georgia, conveyed a much more important message to us than Burjanadze’s statement. By all odds, we will wait for a response from Russia,” says Soso Tsiskarishvili.
“Russia seems to be ready to launch a cold war with the West as well as to move heaven and earth in order to pursue its own interests. Therefore, it is not difficult to guess that all this will bring nothing good to Georgia. That is the reason why instead of releasing these bold statement in stentorian tones and instead of commenting on them every now and again, we’d better unite and try to counter our foe through joint forces,” contends the respondent.
"Regarding some issues the leaders of the former and acting government can have similar opinions, and the issue of Russia is obviously among them. Centuries-long experience and Russia’s eagerness to trample over the internationally established norms and principles has repeatedly assured us that we cannot believe anything coming from Russia and its leader. Especially after Russia’s move to calmly violate the Minsk agreement and keep its practice of providing the separatist in Ukraine with heavy artillery,” maintains the expert.
“Thus, finalizing agreements or holding negotiations with Russia under the acting president is like flogging a dead horse as this cannot yield any tangible results. The West does not want to respond militarily and launch a cold war with this state; however, the actions from Russia can easily morph into armed conflict…” concludes Mr. Tsiskarishvili.
Association Agreement Ratification process will not slump
"Georgia is continuing its integration into the Euro-Atlantic space – this was the message from the Prime Minister as well as the responding statements from Brussels, where the Georgia-EU agreement ratification process was discussed. This message became immensely important after the Free Democrat’s move to make alarming statements regarding this issue and quit after doing so. Gharibashvili and his team members have wrapped up their 2-day visit to Brussels. If we believe the authorities as well as our political experts, his visit to Brussels was unsuccessful though. Despite the fact that the lobbyist group of the National Movement urged them to drop the practice of selective justice, their requests remained unheeded,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“The first EU-Georgia session was held. The EU has adopted a bit critical but overall positive resolution in relation to Georgia. The requirements from Europe’s public party have not been fully met; however, the government has been strongly warned against using the judiciary against its political rivals. The Euro Parliament Foreign Committee adopted a resolution and elaborated a recommendation under which the parliament will vote for the ratification of the Association Agreement in December. As the resolution says, the Euro Parliament supports the steps taken by Georgia to cultivate relations with Russia; as for Russia, it has been strongly urged to respect Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by recanting the recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions. The document also says that they do welcome the reforms in Georgia’s court and stresses that the branches of the government must not be dissentient and the prosecution against the former top officials must not be politically motivated,” reads the paper.
“The resolution also presents us in black and white with the warning against misusing the judiciary as, according to them, this will only hamper the Georgian authorities in upholding democracy in the country. In addition, as the document says, any kind of persecution must be impartial and transparent. The joint press release issued after the first session of the Georgia-EU Association Council also underlines that they support Georgia’s Euro Atlantic aspirations and highlights the importance of holding transparent court trials. They have also focused on the agreement that was completed between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia,” says the article.
“At their joint briefing, Premier Gharibashvili thanked the European Parliament President Martin Schulz and announced that “time for entering a new phase in the EU-Georgia relations has come.” The Prime Minister has defined establishing the visa-free travel with the EU as Georgia’s top priority and underscored that Georgia has already successfully followed through with the first phase of the action plan and stressed that Georgia totally relies on the EU and hopes that its support will be long lasting. The President of the European Parliament in turn congratulated the Head of our Government on the accomplished achievements and emphasized that the latter is in the ranks of the leading countries of the eastern partnership. He also expressed his readiness to support Georgia in the future too. “We will try to pace up the visa-liberalization process … we have also touched upon the issue of Russia which plays a decisive role in forming a political climate in your country,” announced the European Parliament President.
