Saakashvili: No Alternative to Dialogue
President Saakashvili said on April 7, that there had been cases when “old practice” of demonstrating arrogance by, as he put it, both the authorities and the opposition was resulting into “total catastrophe for the country.”
He said that “talks like ‘we are not interested in your opinion and we will do whatever we want’ – heard both from the government and the opposition” should now change as dialogue had no alternative.
“Today, based on our experience, taking into consideration the fact that 20% of Georgia is occupied, that a threat still persists and that we need to liberate our territories, also taking into account that there is the global [economic] crisis which hits each Georgian family, there is no alternative to dialogue; there is no alternative to listening to each other, searching for compromises and saying no to this old practice that ‘we do not care about your opinion.’ Of course, we should be interested in the opinions of everybody,” Saakashvili told journalists in Poti in western Georgia.
“By the way, the situation has improved as dialogue has somehow been established within the Parliament, dialogue has somehow been established with the non-governmental sector,” he continued. “But dialogue is necessary even with the smallest and the most radical group, no matter how radical and often unacceptable their demands might be. Georgia and its multi-ethnic population have no other alternative.”
The President’s remarks come two days before the opposition’s planned protest rallies to demand Saakashvili’s resignation.
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