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Friday,
July 27,
2007, #142 (1409)
Largely dissident for the two decades of her uneven political life, she has been through several arrests and survived two near death incidents since her start as an anti-Soviet activist. Now in her mid-forties, she is still in the opposition. “Despite my inner protest against communist rule, I’d never thought of entering political resistance. I would’ve never imagined myself being part of some collective movement—simply because I wasn’t the type, and I’m not a collectivist type of person now either,” says a smiling Irina Sarishvili, leader of the controversial political movement Imedi (Hope). Sarishvili recalls that meeting Giorgi Chanturia—a prominent national movement leader in the 1980’s and the Georgian National Democratic Party (NDP) head—was a turning point in both her private life and career. A Tbilisi State University graduate, Irina Sarishvili joined the NDP. Like many citizens, she found inspiration in the vision of Georgian liberation, and joined protests against the communist regime. “Even then I couldn’t link this to my involvement in politics. I think none of us [in the movement] were initially thinking of politics a profession. And that’s been our advantage to this day, I guess. It was later that political ambitions appeared,” Sarishvili claims. Sarishvili remembers that Soviet authorities responded to protests by arresting the organizers, members of the Independence Committee: Merab Kostava, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Giorgi Chanturia, Irakli Batiashvili, Irakli Tsereteli, and others. “My own imprisonments weren’t lengthy, usually from two to four days,” Sarishvili says. She explains that this is because detention of women had little support at the time. She served her longest prison term, nearly a month, after the Soviet army, armed with military batons and metal shovels, brutally dispersed an anti-Soviet demonstration on April 9th, 1989. 20 demonstrators were killed. Hundreds were injured. “The first three days I was in an ordinary cell with other compatriots. Then they moved me to a dungeon with rats. I still have horrible memories of that,” she says. It was during one of these spells of imprisonment that Irina Sarishvili and Gia Chanturia, less than two years after meeting, got married in jail on May 4th, 1989. Pressure from the national liberation movement on the communist government ultimately led to the first democratic multiparty parliamentary elections in 1990. These elections resulted in victory over the Georgian Communist party by Round Table/Free Georgia (Mrgvali Magida/Tavisupali Sakartvelo), headed by Gamsakhurdia, Chanturia and others. Just a year later, on April 9th, the Georgian parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union, although universal recognition of independence did not come until the following year. Shortly afterwards, on May 26th, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected president of Georgia. “Some discord between Zviad and Giorgi existed before, but after Gamsakhurdia’s inauguration as president, the gap became rather obvious,” Sarishvili says. The Imedi leader explains that the dissonance was personal at first, but gradually became political. However, looking back, Sarishvili is sure that both Gamsakhurdia and Chanturia were striving for the same ultimate objective—an independent and prosperous Georgia. “But they as individuals chose different ways towards that aim,” she adds. Sarishvili says Chanturia was not a radical in everyday life, but when it came to politics, Chanturia had a unique vision and approach; personal relationships never influenced him in making decisions. “Gia could overcome personal likes and dislikes for that, but hardly yielded to anyone’s influence. While Zviad could easily be manipulated by his family members and friends, Gia just couldn’t stand that,” Sarishvili says. Many former allies, including Chanturia, regarded Gamsakhurdia’s choices as a move towards “authoritarianism and dictatorial behaviour.” Once more, they moved to the opposition. However, Gamsakhurdia refused to compromise and instead ordered troops to disperse a large opposition rally in Tbilisi. Chanturia, whose National Democratic Party was one of the most active opposition groups at that time, was arrested together with his wife on charges of seeking help from Moscowto overthrow the Gamsakhurdia regime. That was when Sarishvili had her first brush with death. Sarishvili recounts the incident, which took her years to get past: “On the evening of September 17, 1991 we were leaving Tbilisi for Moscow; the plane was already in the air when the pilot was ordered to change direction and quickly return to the starting point. Despite the pilot's requests to be allowed to fly for awhile to empty the unused petrol (and lighten the plane for a safe landing), he was repeatedly commanded to make an immediate landing—because of ‘terrorists on board,’ implying Gia and me. I can still hear the scream of the passengers, the children. We felt as if the plane’s wings were clashing against each other. No one thought we would survive.” She says they did not intend to meet Russian officials in Moscow, but rather foreign diplomats and experts. Despite having announced its independence, few countries recognized its sovereignty at the time. There were no embassies or NGOs in Georgia. “So, if you wanted to hold talks over the resolution of any problem at an international level, you were forced to go to Moscow,” Sarishvili says. Looking back at the events Sarishvili, presumes that even if Gamsakhurdia ordered their plane down, the arrest was supported by a stronger player from a broader political scene. Sarishvili argues that despite “the fatal precedent” of overthrowing Gamsakhurdia’s government—the possibility, and reality, of toppled governments has loomed over Georgia ever since—the coup was the only option for the opposition. Sarishvili believes another peaceful revolution is the only way to change the current government. It was the eve of the closing of the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) 7th congress. Her husband Chanturia, the party chairman, and Sarishvili, leader of the NDP in Shevardnadze’s parliament, were ambushed by four gunmen while in their car. Chanturia and his guard were killed on the spot. Sarishvili was severely wounded. Ioselani, he said, ran Georgia like a mafia godfather, and he alleged the two ministers were working for Russia’s interests in the country. Facing a wrenching end to a six-year companionship, both in private and political life, Sarishvili somehow found the strength to continue past her husband’s murder. After the killings, she presided over the NDP party as Sarishvili–Chanturia, serving in parliament until 1999. She stayed active in politics even as she became a mother of three young boys, Luka, Irakli and Saba. As her parliamentary term came to an end, Sarishvili pushed for an election threshold of seven percent for political parties to win parliament seats. In the next elections, her party failed to get even five percent of the vote, leading to internal conflict as the NDP—once the second largest power in parliament—suddenly found itself without parliamentary representation. Sarishvili now considers it a “mistake” to have brought Shevardnadze back to Georgia. After Shevardnadze’s ouster, Sarishvili faced more division in her floundering NDP party, eventually resigning as chair. “I think it was just a bad succession of drawbacks for the party, and I still don't think my proposed seven percent is to blame in all that. When leaving, I told the NDP members who decided my leadership would no longer be beneficial for the party that they were making a big mistake, both from human and political point of view, and on the contrary we had to stick together to overcome this difficult period for our party,” she reflects. Against the Rose Revolution, Sarishvili formed an NGO to oppose Saakashvili's fledgling government. Later, she surprised observers by agreeing to head Igor Giorgadze’s charity foundation. The former state security minister fled to Russia after being officially charged with an assassination attempt on Eduard Shevardnadze. Sarishvili, like others, at one time also suspected Giorgadze as having a hand in her husband’s killing. Despite this, Sarishvili felt comfortable working with him. “I changed my opinion of Giorgadze long before our business collaboration. I publicly apologized to him for my wrong attitude towards him,” she says. However, Sarishvili’s charity activity was interrupted last September, when Sarishvili’s allies in Giorgadze’s Justice Party were arrested on charges of plotting a coup against the pro-Western Saakashvili government. With its anti-NATO stance, the party had little public support, and was accused of taking funding from Russian security services. Giorgadze’s party shut down, along with his charity offices. Despite the diversity of her political background, Sarishvili says she’s always remained loyal to and motivated by the fundamental principle of human freedom. “To me, the organization of our country is not that important, whether a constitutional monarchy or republic. But it’s absolutely crucial that Georgia is established as a truly free and democratic but neutral country, trimmed with its national customs and traditions, focused on human freedoms and values,” Sarishvili says. Whether Sarishvili manages to bring her political ideas to life remains to be seen. She has an uphill battle. Over the last several years she has lost credibility in the eyes of many Georgians. But she is already enjoying the fruits of her “human freedom” approach at home, with her husband and three children. She remarried last year. “I’ve never forced the kids to eat or sleep, and from a very early age they were maximally independent in taking decisions relevant to their age.” Yet there’s one decision she would try to sway. “The only issue…is if any of my sons chooses to pursue politics. I would rather have them avoid this ungrateful profession that strips one of the most precious thing—freedom.” |
The Stormy Life of Irina Sarishvili
