Aslan Abashidze Bridging Between Georgia, Russia and Abkhazia

The Dilis Gazeti

(Tbilisi. November 8. Civil Georgia) – The Dilis Gazeti talks about Shevardnadze having appointed leader of Adjara Autonomous Republic Aslan Abashidze on the position of the President’s envoy for settling conflict of Abkhazia. The paper blames Eduard Shevardnadze and his former party the Citizens’ Union of Georgia in the unresolved problem.

The President leaves the conflict resolution up to Aslan Abashidze who has always been regarded as Shevardnadze’s main political opponent and who has asked for being a mediator in the Abkhazian conflict since 1993.

Georgia chose the West in regulating the conflict from the very beginning, but somehow “Russia takes advantage of difficult situation in the country and realizes further aggression over Georgia”. Thus Georgia has to change the orientation and lean towards Russia.

The Dilis Gazeti assumes that Russia is in deed eligible to settle the conflict but on behalf of compromises from the Georgian side.

In such circumstances “Eduard Shevardnadze gives flow to the way Georgia has never been on before, that is participation of a Georgian personality – showing Georgian abilities in the conflict resolution in spite of Russia’s dominant factor in it”. The fact that Aslan Abashidze left for Russia at the very first stage points at Russia’s dominancy in the problem resolution.

The Dilis Gazeti claims that Abashidze is a politician who has always emphasized on his success and it is thought that he would not agree on such risky position of envoy if he did not have specific guarantees.

The paper also presumes that Shevardnadze’s decision about appointing Aslan Abashidze as his envoy for settling conflict of Abkhazia might not have been a foresight step and served to his own strengthening positions.