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Tensions defused after President Saakashvili and Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze met and struck a deal that allowed for economic sanctions on Adjara to be lifted.
Saakashvili told reporters after the talks “agreements on all main issues have been reached.” Aslan Abashidze described these talks as “very useful,” and later added that “all the disputable issues have been settled.”
“We have discussed all the key issues, including the holding of a free election, free movement of people and free election campaigning by the parties,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.
President Saakashvili also said that the General Prosecutor will dispatch a group of investigators to Batumi in an effort to jointly reconsider cases of those persons arrested for political reasons.
“One more issue discussed during talks was the disarmament of armed groups in Adjara. This means restoration of supremacy of law in Georgia, including that of the Adjarian territory,” Mikheil Saakashvili added.
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| In return Saakashvili pledged to lift economic sanctions by 24:00 March 18. |
“The President’s representative, who along with the local authorities, will control the situation in customs, as well as in the port of Batumi, in order to provide the central authorities with information about customs operations and to ensure transparency of mobilization of taxes,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.
“Now the main thing is to fulfill the achieved agreements. I promise that I will lift the economic sanctions, starting at 24:00 tonight,” President said.
President Saakashvili also made a conciliatory gesture by saying that he has “no personal confrontation with the Adjarian leader.” and expanded on this further by stating that “I believe we have achieved full mutual understanding.”
However, earlier, when Saakashvili was barred from entering the Adjarian Autonomy on March 14, he hotly described Abashidze as “a middle-aged feudal.” This incident triggered crisis, which led directly to the economic blockading of all sea, air and land space claimed by the defiant region.
Despite an agreement, many political analysts in Tbilisi believe that it is a short-term deal.
“The regime in Batumi is absolutely incompatible to that of the one in Tbilisi [central government] and it creates a major problem in this standoff and in turn creates a cornerstone of confrontation between Georgia’s new leadership and the Adjarian leader [Abashidze, who has unilaterally ruled the region for the past decade],” says Ghia Nodia of Think-tank Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development.
Speaking in a live broadcast on the Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 television, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania admitted that the central authorities “have no guarantees that the Adjarian leader will follow these agreements, modernize its authority and accept a new set of rules for the game.”
However, he did concede that he had no reason to doubt that “the publicly announced agreement will be implemented.”
“When we threatened with him with economic sanctions, the Adjarian leader thought that we would not be able to implement these sanctions, but after enforcement of the blockade he had to make concessions. These economic sanctions did work,” Zurab Zhvania said.
On March 16 the Georgian General Prosecutor, Irakli Okruashvili, announced that six Adjarian officials, including the Security Minister and the Deputy Interior Minister, are wanted by law enforcement agents for the alleged harassment of journalists and opposition supporters.
But those on the wanted list represent a stronghold of Abashidze’s power in the autonomous region and it is unlikely that Abashidze will agree to their arrest.
