Saakashvili Calls for Unity
President Saakashvili called on the opposition to cooperate with the authorities, including him personally, in the face of the “provocative and dangerous” decision by Russia to pull out from the treaty imposing sanctions on Abkhazia.
Below is Saakashvili full statement made about the issue at a ceremony of awarding of former Georgian detainees, who were held in Abkhazia:
“Today is a very important moment for Georgia. The Russian government has taken an extremely provocative and dangerous step aimed at destabilizing the situation. I repeat that this is a very dangerous move.
Georgia’s response should be calm, it should demonstrate strength and self-assurance, but first of all, it should be a response of the united nation. Journalists, ordinary citizens, policemen, the president, government and opposition should also assume their share of responsibility.
This is a moment when all other matters should be put aside.
I want to tell everybody, we are ready for anything; we are ready not to allow the infringement of Georgia’s territorial integrity and on the other hand, not to allow Georgia’s involvement in any large-scale conflict. This is of vital importance. Georgia does not want war, Georgia does not want violence.
On the other hand, I think this is a moment when the government and the opposition should sit together and discuss all the issues related to our response regarding Russia’s moves. We should demonstrate our unity as never before, we should demonstrate that there are values which are above political views.
I want to tell the opposition – we can dispute many issues – the opposition is a significant part of the democratic system – in most cases we may fail to reach agreement, but there are issues on which it is impossible not to agree.
I want to call on them to sit down with me, with the Georgian government and develop our joint response, our joint position in response to this provocative, dangerous act of Russia’s. I think this will be correct; this will be unexpected for our opponents, wherever they are, and this will be a demonstration of political maturity and the unity of the Georgian nation against a key challenge. Georgia is undefeatable when it is united on key issues.”
