Saakashvili Slams CoE Secretary General over Adjara

Speaking in Batumi University on May 9 Georgian President criticized Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer for his statement over situation in Adjara made on May 2.

In his statement on May 2 Walter Schwimmer said, while commenting explosion of bridges in Adjara, ?it is shocking to hear, that in ? Georgia bridges are exploded because the central and the local [Adjarian] authorities have lost their ability to dialogue.? Ex-Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze blew up three key bridges linking Adjara with the rest of Georgia.

?It was not a statement of a true European; it was a statement of impudent and well-paid bureaucrat,” Saakashvili said.

“He [Walter Schwimmer] said that both sides [central authorities and Abashidze?s regime] have lost their ability to dialogue as if both sides were equally responsible for what was happening,? Mikheil Saakashvili said.

Earlier Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili also criticized statement of the Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer as ?incorrect.?

Following departure of Aslan Abashidze, Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer has expressed his satisfaction on May 6 that the crisis in Adjara has been resolved without bloodshed.

European diplomats accredited to Georgia were visiting Adjarian Autonomy?s capital Batumi on May 9, to mark the “Europe Day.”

President Saakashvili said in the Batumi University that Georgians proved with two bloodless revolutions that that ?we are the best Europeans?