Opposition Leaders Say Want ‘Public Talks’ with Saakashvili

When Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s former UN envoy and leader of the Alliance for Georgia, told the rally outside the Parliament that opposition leaders would like to hold “transparent and public” meeting with President Saakashvili, he was booed by protesters.

“Today is a decisive moment when we make decisions to achieve those common goals which we have set together,” he said. "On behalf of the leaders of all political parties represented here I want to announce: after our joint demand [on the President’s resignation], today Mikheil Saakashvili stated that he is ready to meet with the opposition leaders We want to say one thing: in accordance with the people’s will, in accordance with this fair demand, we want to make our demand an issue of national judgment and we will meet him only openly, only publicly in presence of those representatives, who enjoy public trust.”

As he made these remarks he was immediately booed by the protesters with some of them chanting: “No, No.”

In an attempt to convince the crowd that the talks would be public, without any backstage deals, Alasania repeated: “This meeting should be public and should be held in presence of those who are authorized with your trust.”

But the assurance failed to allay protesters angry reaction and at that point Levan Gachechiladze, an opposition politician with more experience of leading protest rallies than Alasania, took the stage and addressed protesters in angry tone.

“Silence, silence,” Gachechiladze said. “Do you think we are crazy? It is clear that there is a crazy man on another side [an apparent reference to President Saakashvili], but does it mean that we should also go crazy? There is Georgia behind us. You will watch on TV who will go and who will say what [at that potential meeting]. Not a single man will dare to go at that meeting, if it is not aired live by the television. If it does not occur in live coverage, not a single person will dare to go there. The meeting will be public, transparent and only with your consent.”

Gachechiladze’s emotional speech relatively allayed the protesters’ reaction.

In his remarks Irakli Alasania did not mention a live televised meeting, instead he was speaking about the need of presence of non-political figures “who enjoy with public trust” at the potential meeting between the President and the opposition leaders.

But other opposition leaders, who spoke to protesters after Alasania, were making focus on the need of “televised talks.”

Salome Zourabichvili, a former foreign minister and a leader of Georgia’s Way party, told protesters that “the only issue of this meeting will be his resignation.” “And there will be only one format [of the meeting]: public and transparent,” she added.

“None of us, who will participate in that meeting, will remove the key demand about his resignation,” Eka Beselia of the Movement for Unite Georgia party, founded by ex-defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, told the rally. “We are doing it only for one purpose – to deprive him of the argument to speak with the international community that we are people who cannot hold a dialogue.”

Eka Tkeshelashvili, secretary of Georgia’s national security council, told journalists that the authorities have always been expressing readiness for a dialogue. She, however, said the format of the meeting needed to be arranged and the authorities had yet to decide about the opposition’s proposal to hold “a televised meeting.”

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