U.S. Official Meets Opposition Leaders

Michael H. Posner, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, met with some of the opposition leaders in Tbilisi on November 17.

Posner, who leads the U.S. interagency team visiting Tbilisi to participate in a working group on democracy under the auspices of the U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, met with Nino Burjanadze, leader of Democratic Movement-United Georgia; Irakli Alasania, leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, part of the Alliance for Georgia; MP Giorgi Targamadze, leader of Christian-Democratic Movement, a leading party in the parliamentary minority and Levan Gachechiladze, founder of public movement Protect Georgia.

MP Giorgi Targamadze said after the meeting that a broad range of democracy-related issues were discussed, including planned constitutional and electoral reforms, as well as media and “measures for protection of business.”

Nino Burjanadze said after the meeting that concrete measures on how to secure implementation of U.S.-Georgia strategic charter and how to secure from the authorities to implement democratic reforms were discussed.

“I think that this meeting should be followed with concrete, serious results,” Burjanadze said. She also added that she put forth the need for setting to the government concrete timeframe for implementing the democratic reforms.

“Concrete deadlines should be set when the political prisoners will be released and when the repressions will be stopped and it does not require months and years,” Burjanadze said.

Irakli Alasania said that the need for “depolitization of law enforcement agencies” was also raised during the meeting.

“We also discussed media-related issues in details. And most important is that as a result of the today’s meeting the U.S side pledged to support the need for searching a consensus between the positions of the authorities and the opposition,” Alasania said.

Levan Gachechiladze said that it was important for him that “very concrete” discussion of issues related to democratic reforms took place during the meeting.

Earlier on November 17, the U.S. officials met with representatives of the Georgian civil society and media. Georgian participants of the meeting said that discussion of media-related issues topped the agenda of the meeting.

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