Shevardnadze Warns Over Civil War, Urges Citizens not to Rally

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze today reiterated his readiness for holding a dialogue with the opposition and urged the Georgian citizens not to participate in the protest rally. 

“I am ready for a dialogue and normal relations with the opposition. I am not afraid of meeting with anyone. It is quite possible to find common language with opposition leaders. It is possible to talk with Zurab [Zhvania] and Nino [Burjanadze, the leaders of the opposition]. I am even ready to meet with their commander [referring to Mikheil Saakashvili, key opposition leader], although he insulted me last week. I am ready to meet anyone in order to avoid civil confrontation in the country,” Shevardnadze said at a specially convened news briefing on November 14.

He called on the population to refrain from joining the large-scale protest rally, which is scheduled in front of the Parliament for today.

“There will be nothing to see there [at a protest rally]. Simply we will witness the very bad beginning of what expects us. I believe we will settle all the problems together. Do not participate in the rally, everybody should do their businesses. Go home, return to the universities,” the President said while addressing the Georgian citizens.

He called on everybody to solve all the issues in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia. “If we turn from this way, we will be unable to avoid not only civil confrontation, but the civil war as well. Until I am the President, I will not permit the split of the population, that will trigger civil confrontation in the country,” Shevardnadze said. 

Commenting on collection of signatures by the opposition, demanding his resignation, the President said that under such conditions his resignation would be “great irresponsibility” on his part.

“As soon as the new Parliament starts working, maybe I myself will sign the document on resignation. But now, it will be great irresponsibility,” Shevardnadze stated. 

“I will never share the fate of [former Romanian President Nicolae] Ceausescu and [former Yugoslavian President Slobodan] Milosevic,” Eduard Shevardnadze said.

Late on 9 November, Shevardnadze met Saakashvili and other opposition leaders in his Krtsanisi residence, in Tbilisi, in a bid to defuse the crisis. But the talks ended inconclusively, with Saakashvili abruptly leaving the negotiations after he advised the Georgian leader to step down as Serbian President Milosevic did in 2000.