Opposition, Ruling Party Fail to Resume Talks

The ruling party has refused to meet the opposition because Giorgi Khaindrava, an ex-state minister, was designated an opposition negotiator.

Khaindrava, who is a member of the nine-party opposition coalition, is suspected by the authorities of having links with alleged Russian intelligence operatives in Georgia.

The authorities recently produced a recording of MP Levan Berdzenishvili of the Republican Party and Khaindrava speaking with a man in Russian on the phone. The man, an employee of the Russian embassy in Tbilisi, according to the Interior Ministry, was a Russian intelligence operative. The ruling party has consistently refused to talk to those they see as collaborating with Russia.

Khaindrava had previously not taken part in negotiations with the government, but with Salome Zourabichvili, the leader of Georgia?s Way party, on a trip to Europe, he said on November 19 that he was planning on participating in the talks, which were due to happen this evening.

Nino Burjanadze, the parliamentary chairperson, said late on November 19 that the opposition bloc had deliberately changed the negotiations format in order to thwart the talks.

?Today?s meeting has been postponed, because the opposition has violated our agreement on the negotiations format,? she said. ?The opposition has unilaterally changed this format. They have offered a new format and it was done deliberately to thwart the talks. Hence, we have decided to postpone these talks.?

She also claimed that recently there had been ?obvious attempts? by some within the opposition bloc ?to thwart dialogue.?

As well as Khaindrava, Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party and MP Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party were expected to participate in the meeting. MP Zurab Tkemaladze and MP Mamuka Katsitadze from the opposition Industrialists and New Rights parties, respectively, – neither members of the bloc – were also due to attend. 

Nino Burjanadze said that the authorities were willing to resume talks. But she complained that the coalition was trying to undermine talks by pushing new, additional demands. ?Of course it is hard to negotiate under these conditions,? she added.

Burjanadze also denounced the opposition coalition?s plans to hold a demonstration. The opposition announced that it planned a rally on November 25 to demand that the authorities allow Imedi TV to resume broadcasting.

Burjanadze suggested that some people were interested in creating ?an atmosphere of destabilization.? ?Otherwise, I don’t understand why there is a need for street protest rallies? ahead of [the presidential] elections,? Burjanadze added.

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