On December 10, a “3 + 3” Format meeting was held in Moscow. Six countries were to be represented at the meeting: Georgia, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The meeting was held at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers and this is the beginning of the preparations for the big meeting, which should take place in 2022 with the participation of the first persons of these countries, but. . .
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly expressed a clear position on the 3 + 3 regional cooperation initiative, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs speaking at a recent parliamentary hearing on the issue. We will not discuss participation in this format and, therefore, Georgia will not be represented at the meeting scheduled for December 10 this year” – the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
It turned out that the deputy foreign ministers of the five countries participating in the “3 + 3” format arrived in Moscow, i.e. all but the representative of Georgia. The reason given was that Georgia considers Russia an occupier and disputes the lands. However, the representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia sat and talked at this meeting. Representatives of the two countries that recently ended the war spoke and Armenia still says that Azerbaijan managed to occupy its territories with the help of Turkey and. . . Turkey was also present at the meeting. Everyone except Georgia recognizes that there is no alternative to dialogue. It should be noted that three of the five countries participating in the format: Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia, are still disputing the territories of Georgia, and it is absurd to think about the return of Abkhazia and Samachablo without Russia. Therefore, the Georgian side was obliged to go to this meeting and at least defend what we have today. Do you think that when Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey start talking about Georgia, they will protect our interests or their own country? And at the same meeting, no one will say that Georgia’s interest should be taken into account, and if they agree that, for example, the Gareja monastery complex belongs entirely to Azerbaijan, there will be no one to vote and protest. We can say for sure that the Georgian side was considering the possibility of participating in the meeting in this format. Moreover, deputy foreign ministers are not at the level to make a serious decision independently. They will simply start preparing for a meeting of higher-ranking officials, and eventually the leaders of the countries will sit down at the table. And when Georgia was considering participation, first Mikheil Saakashvili (?!) intervened in the case and then the US Embassy. Misha said loudly: The West does not support me, which will be a message to other leaders in the region not to support us in times of need. At the moment, Georgia is the only country in the region whose government silently follows the instructions of its Western partners, and neither Azerbaijan, nor Armenia, Turkey, and especially Russia, are subordinate to the West. You may also remember that as soon as Nicol Pashinyan started dancing to Western music, she was abandoned not only by her main partner, Russia, but by the whole nation, and early elections were called. It was then that Pashinyan realized that he had to think first about his country and then about the West. A similar thing is happening with Georgia. The West is well aware that Georgia is the only country in the region that can spin on its own will and that is why we have been banned from participating in the ”3 + 3” format.
As you know, Turkey has the ambition to be the first player in the region. More precisely, not in the region, but Turkey is equated with the great powers, and Erdogan also says that the restoration of the Ottoman Empire is a matter of time. The same Erdogan recited a poem about Meskheti during a public meeting and called it a flower cut from the heart of Turkey, which, it turns out, will soon return to the motherland. In such conditions, any meeting and defense of one’s own positions is obligatory, but the West is less interested in Turkey, Meskheti and focuses only on Russia. For some reason, we think that the “3 + 3” format, specifically for Georgia and Russia, would be a serious excuse for a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of these two countries in the future. If you remember , when Zalkaliani and Lavrov crossed “incidentally” a few years ago, then the West started hysterical. But now . . .
America will not even have a story from the “3 + 3” format, no one will say what happened in the details, and this format was considered by the West as a conspiracy. Judge for yourself – if these six countries manage to reach an agreement, if they manage to achieve peaceful coexistence, if they manage to reach an agreement on the disputed territories, the quarrel with Russia will end and the manipulation with Russia with the countries of the region will end. Yes, we can agree on the territories and set the border so that all parties are satisfied, we can talk about Samachablo and Abkhazia, that is, everything can be done in a face-to-face meeting, but the west forced us to reject our participation in this format.
The five states agreed at the next meeting and also agreed that higher-level officials should sit down at the negotiating table and discuss more serious issues. This is not just about disputed territories, it is about economic relations, trade issues. At a time when food prices in the world are catastrophically expensive, countries in the region may have agreed to take each other’s interests into account and to have preferential tariffs on food or energy sources compared to others. And, we will not be in this format and it will happen to us exactly as in the case of wheat.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have set an example that despite war between them, dialogue is still possible. Armenia sent a representative on the condition that Turkey directly accuse Azerbaijan of aiding and abetting the killing of its soldiers. Armenia realized that abandoning this format would be not only bad but disastrous for the country and would leave the region out of the game. Armenia, whose international lobby is much stronger than Georgia in the same Europe or America, has not been left out and you can be sure that it will benefit greatly in the near future. But, we . . .
After 2003, Georgia was fully subordinated to the West. After 2008, we did not take a step without the West, and now it is clear that the United States was involved in the internal affairs of Georgia to the point of appointing people to this or that post, and even decided which judge should be appointed where. That was when 99% of the court verdicts were found guilty and what comes out? The judges appointed by the United States were passing these verdicts and now it turns out that the current government is in a hurry to appoint judges and does not follow the instructions of the United States? We are not saying that the current court is ideal, but it is a fact that it is much better than the court of the previous government.
Although the “3 + 3” meeting was held at first glance between the third-ranking officials, Erdogan has already spoken about its importance and said that he expects a lot from the mentioned format. Most importantly, the first person of Turkey mentioned five countries when talking about the format and did not mention Georgia, which means that he not only tolerated our country’s refusal, but also helps Georgia’s absence in this format, because Turkey has other plans for our country. Said. The format is conditionally called “3 + 3”, but in reality 5 countries will be involved in it. Georgia will have to get used to the decisions and the results that will be voiced there and it simply cannot go against it. Why? Because he will be alone in the region and no one will support it . . .
What do you think the West will do in such a case? Nothing, it will enslave us more and justify it by saying that others do not believe him and do not interfere in domestic affairs. We have said before that if Georgia refused to participate in the “3 + 3” format, it would be a big mistake and now it is clear that our country is making this mistake, and we will see the results soon. Unfortunately, no one seems to be saying that a Georgian representative should be present at the negotiating table with the five states in the region.
Beso Barbakadze
