On May 1, former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili issued a statement warning the Georgian Dream party that it will pay a heavy price for its recent decisions, including the brutal dispersal of the April 30 protest against the Foreign Agents law. While stating that he agrees with many of the premises and rhetoric of GD, he laments that one of the results of these actions will be “transferring the role of the flagship of Georgia’s rapprochement with the West to the opposition.”
Kvirikashvili notes that the GD government is eliminating the “middle ground” and to divide the society between the supporters of the authorities, on the one hand, and UNM and UNM-aligned parties, on the other, while “it is becoming more and more obvious” that the large portion of the youth ” who perceived the known law and the accompanying GD rhetoric as a as an attempt to establish authoritarian rule and against whom disproportionately brute force was used last night”, took to the streets regardless of the call of any political party.
Kvirikashvili emphasizes that the former GD team had managed in recent years to become a “respected partner” for all friendly states (both in the West and in the East) and to “dramatically reduce” the chance of the former government to be viewed as a possible alternative partner for the West. He emphasizes that this was not achieved by giving up Georgia’s sovereignty, on the contrary, the former GD team, part of which is still in power, had many “heated arguments” with Western partners, but they went behind closed doors and didn’t take place in public to “‘Russia’s delight.”
The former PM agrees with GD on many issues. He then lists these issues, among them: Kvirikashvili stresses that indeed the geopolitical situation has changed in recent years, and the GD rhetoric is thus, to an extent, substantiated by arguments. He notes that “indeed” between some NGOs and the political forces is blurred. He says that “indeed” the open propaganda of values “alien to our society is presented as human rights.” Indeed, he writes, the vetting system that the West “so persistently offers” is unacceptable to him “as well”, and stresses that “the fundamental changes that our justice system undoubtedly needs are to be determined by the citizens of Georgia.” He then adds: “Similarly, the response to wrong political decisions and the exclusive right to issue a political verdict should be enforced by the will of the Georgian voters, not by foreign powers by imposing sanctions.”
Despite all this, former PM says “the protection of Georgia’s sovereignty still inevitably goes through close integration with the West”, and therefore, according to him, it’s a big mistake on the part of the government to equate the whole West to the ” so-called war party” and “to portray all organizations implementing donor projects as carrying the interest of a foreign power.”
Kvirikashvili states that because of GD will have to pay a high political price for its decisions:
- The number of GD voters will decrease significantly in the elections as the party loses supporters who want to move closer to the West;
- Relations with the West will deteriorate sharply.;
- A huge wall will be built between the GD and the Georgian youth.
“There is still time to make significant adjustments to the Government’s actions. Seeing each person brutally beaten at the rallies evokes strong associations with the pre-2012 reality. All parties should do their best to maintain stability and not allow violence, to avoid an irreparable outcome, the risk of which is quite high and for which the Government will be responsible,” – concludes the Kvirikashvili’s statement.
Also Read:
- 01/05/2024 – MIA: 63 People Arrested During Rally Against Agents Law
- 01/05/2024 – Georgian Watchdogs Statements: Police Resort to Disproportionate Force against Peaceful Protesters
- 01/05/2024 – Public Defender: Use of Force Against Peaceful Protesters Disproportionate
-
-
-
-
