The Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia spoke at a special press conference on November 26 about the October 21 parliamentary elections and noted that multi-party elections are what the country deserves. According to him, the fact that this year, unlike the 2016 elections, there was a much higher turnout, confirms that the public, together with the government, instructs eight opposition parties (including the National Movement, European Georgia, etc.) to run the country together. According to him, with the 2020 elections, the country, for the first time in its history, received the most multi-party parliament, which is the main order of the society and the biggest step forward for further democratic development.
Let us remind you that the main demand of the majority of the population of Georgia towards the “Georgian Dream” and, consequently, the main promise of the “Dream” in 2012 was to restore justice, which meant the trial of the “National Movement” as a criminal regime. Shortly after taking office, coalition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili denied the promise and declared cohabitation with the former government instead of starting a legal process. Today, the same government is telling us through the Prime Minister that the public wants the “National Movement” to run the country with its political divisions.
Human rights activist Nana Kakabadze talks about these and other important issues whether the Prime Minister’s assessment of the public order is real and what such assessments serve.
– Mrs. Nana, if we believe the statement made by the Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia a few days ago, the October 21 parliamentary elections showed that it is the order of the society to run the country together with the “Dream”, the “National Movement”, its divisions and allies. He said this live at a press conference. Do you think the assessment of the head of government is adequate? And what message does this really have, both for the political spectrum and for society?
– The political spectrum and the current situation are separate issues, but we all know the main and foremost demand of the society for the “Georgian Dream” since the time when they were not in power. It was the restoration of justice, the removal of the perpetrators from power and their trial, which became a notorious topic after all, because they did not fulfill this condition after coming to power, on the contrary, they started collaborating with criminals openly. With all this in mind, I think it is complete cynicism today to say that, it turns out, the Georgian people are telling the government to run the country with criminals. People were telling them, and today they are no longer telling them, because they have lost the sense that they should try the bloody regime of the “National Movement”, investigate uninvestigated cases, return the confiscated property to specific people, and so on. However, it seems that some persons in power think that the society has already forgotten this and all this has lost its relevance.
You are mistaken, if you think that an unpunished crime, an unpunished criminal, especially when it comes to state crimes, is possible to be forgotten. Such crimes always leave an indelible mark and no matter what time, what period passes, it will always be etched in the public memory as a very bad and shameful “practice”.
As for the Prime Minister in particular and his assessment, the statement we heard was probably more of a kind of call to the opposition spectrum to enter into a constructive dialogue and enter Parliament. However, I have said and I will repeat: Mr. Gakharia must understand one thing well: in this election, the Georgian people did not choose what they really wanted, but chose between bad and worse …
– In general, lately, there is an impression that the government is in a kind of begging mode with the opposition. It seems that the ruling team is more eager to enter the opposition parliament than the opposition itself. What is the reason for this?
– I do not know what the government is trying to do and what processes are going on in their internal political kitchen, but one thing is a fact: they have long been captivated by the ugly political data created by them years ago. Today, in practice, we have such a reality: the government is looking into the eyes of the “National Movement” revived by it and declared as the main opposition. They will enter the legislature – we will have a multi-party parliament, which will be approved by the Democratic West; They will not enter and give up their mandates in protest, which will probably not happen – “Dream” has a puzzle. I think all this, in general, is the ugliness of the Georgian political agenda, which is due to crime. I mean, in his time criminals were declared politically inviolable and, moreover, they were given some sort of incentive even when they left old cadres in a number of important positions, although some were even promoted and appointed to more serious positions. I am not saying anything about the fact that the judiciary has mostly left the regime’s servants again and at the same time a lot of nationalists have been ported to the “Dream”. All this has created the reality that today the “Georgian Dream” is a hostage of its own ugly policy …
– Against the background of the “National Movement”, as well as the so-called the pro-Western opposition spectrum, with the serious support of the West, can this reality be changed?
– I think it will not be for that and neither in its time would it be enough just to judge the regime. It would not be enough if the representatives of the “National Movement” were held criminally liable for the crimes. It was necessary for the “Dream” to open the political arena and allow the national forces to act freely. In this case, I am sure, we would get a much healthier political environment and it would be a much healthier environment for the government itself. Now as for the fact that, it turns out, the “National Movement” has its own electorate and therefore can not be ignored, it is often cited by certain subjects as an “argument”. Of course, every evil force has a certain number of supporters, otherwise it cannot even become a force. Among them, imagine that the vast majority of the population in Nazi Germany was a supporter of Hitler’s Nazi party, but does this mean that the evil committed by the Nazis should go unpunished ?! By the way, I have heard from many, and this is probably the most notorious “argument” that the government has failed to restore justice due to fear or pressure from the West. What logic is this? What, if it is the same western reference, give up the territories, give up ?! There is no justification for leaving the most serious criminal offenses unsolved. Including crimes for which direct evidence lies at the heart of the hand. This is the reality and the background to the fact that, it turns out, the Georgian people are telling the government to run the country with criminals, to put it mildly, is political arrogance. If the Georgian people wanted the rule of the “Nationals regime”, we would have been in power for nine years and not so much trouble would have happened to visit them. Well, the “Dream” must know and realize one thing: from a purely legal point of view, covering up and aiding and abetting the crime itself is no less a serious crime. They have already done this when they declared cohabitation with criminals, so I am sure that if Georgia ever has a normal government – and I want to believe that it will – it will be held accountable by the “National Movement” as well as its “covering and pardoning” crimes “Georgian Dream” …
However, at least for the next four years we will have to live in this political reality.
– Not four years, if a healthy force is not created and formed in the country, which, unlike today’s parties, is not governed from the outside, we will remain for many decades to come in this destructive, destructive and destructive vicious circle. This is like two times two – four, so we need new political forces and a core of these forces that will create a real alternative in the country. No matter what the name of the ruling party is – Nationals or Dram, the course will remain the same and the harmful policy will continue, an unchanged principle of which is not to allow to come in the politics people with pure past, patriotically thinking, while the reins of government should be held by externally ruled traitors.
As for the fact that we got an unprecedented multi-party parliament in this election, which was a serious step forward for Georgian democracy, in this election we got an unprecedented number of criminals in the legislature, which has nothing to do with democracy, in any sense. Because the names may be different: some – “European Georgia”, some – “Strategy Builder”, etc., but in fact there is one party – it is the “National Movement”. This force and its divisions, in spite of everything, continue to successfully destroy the country …
Interviewed by Jaba hvania
