US envoy says emergency rule to end November 16
November 14
By Messenger staff
A top US diplomat for the region predicted emergency rule would be lifted November 16, expressing concern but cautious support for a government once lauded for lighting a beacon of democracy in the South Caucasus.
“Beacons flicker,” said Matthew Bryza, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. But he said he was hopeful the country is now moving past the serious unrest of the last week, and will get back on its feet by holding free and fair elections in January.
Commenting on Saakashvili’s claims that Russian agents stirred up the violence in Tbilisi in a well-planned coup attempt, Bryza said he would be “shocked, based on our conversations with Moscow in the last few days, if there was truly something planned [by Russia] to destabilize Georgia.”
Byrza came to Tbilisi just days after riot police used force to disperse anti-government protestors on November 7, leading the government to declare a state of emergency and a near-total media blackout.
On November 9, a US State Department spokesman said they were “quite disappointed by the actions President Saakashvili took in imposing a state of emergency.”
The State Department spokesman said Bryza was being sent to Georgia with a clear message: emergency rule should be lifted immediately.
As Washington’s representative arrived, however, Saakashvili pointedly told a televised forum of local businessmen that his administration knows best when it comes to his country’s security.
“My responsibility is not before some country’s foreign minister, but rather before the next thousand years of Georgian history,” the president said.
Bryza evidently failed to convince Tbilisi to lift the state of emergency immediately, but he said Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze informed him it would be lifted “in the next two or three days,” naming November 16 as the probable date.
Bryza emphasized that the next step would be getting Imedi TV and the rest of the Georgian broadcast media back on air as soon as possible.
“The symbolism of closing down television broadcasts sent shockwaves through our capitals, in the United States and over in Europe,” he said.
Imedi TV was raided by special forces officers on November 7, before the state of emergency was announced. Network executives said the television’s equipment was methodically destroyed and its employees threatened.
The government says the station, founded by tycoon and presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili, was broadcasting explicit calls for the violent overthrow of the state.
Patarkatsishvili is now wanted for questioning on those charges.
Bryza appeared to justify the shutdown of Imedi TV by saying the government was “genuinely concerned” that the network was inciting people to overthrow the government on November 7.
While clarifying that he doesn’t know exactly what footage was being aired that day, he made a point of calling on Imedi, which is co-owned and operated by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, to ensure the journalism it produces once back on air is “fully professional.”
The US diplomat also reaffirmed his country’s unequivocal support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, as well as lauding the “remarkable” achievements of Saakashvili’s government in the last four years and the “substantive dialogue” he saw between government and opposition leaders.
And with all independent broadcast news off-air, that is what the Georgian public saw reported on the state-owned broadcaster. In a brief news segment shortly after Bryza’s press conference, the Georgian Public Broadcaster aired the US envoy’s exhortations for both the government and the opposition to be constructive in dialogue and his firm assertion of Washington’s support for restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity.
“Beacons flicker,” said Matthew Bryza, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. But he said he was hopeful the country is now moving past the serious unrest of the last week, and will get back on its feet by holding free and fair elections in January.
Commenting on Saakashvili’s claims that Russian agents stirred up the violence in Tbilisi in a well-planned coup attempt, Bryza said he would be “shocked, based on our conversations with Moscow in the last few days, if there was truly something planned [by Russia] to destabilize Georgia.”
Byrza came to Tbilisi just days after riot police used force to disperse anti-government protestors on November 7, leading the government to declare a state of emergency and a near-total media blackout.
On November 9, a US State Department spokesman said they were “quite disappointed by the actions President Saakashvili took in imposing a state of emergency.”
The State Department spokesman said Bryza was being sent to Georgia with a clear message: emergency rule should be lifted immediately.
As Washington’s representative arrived, however, Saakashvili pointedly told a televised forum of local businessmen that his administration knows best when it comes to his country’s security.
“My responsibility is not before some country’s foreign minister, but rather before the next thousand years of Georgian history,” the president said.
Bryza evidently failed to convince Tbilisi to lift the state of emergency immediately, but he said Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze informed him it would be lifted “in the next two or three days,” naming November 16 as the probable date.
Bryza emphasized that the next step would be getting Imedi TV and the rest of the Georgian broadcast media back on air as soon as possible.
“The symbolism of closing down television broadcasts sent shockwaves through our capitals, in the United States and over in Europe,” he said.
Imedi TV was raided by special forces officers on November 7, before the state of emergency was announced. Network executives said the television’s equipment was methodically destroyed and its employees threatened.
The government says the station, founded by tycoon and presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili, was broadcasting explicit calls for the violent overthrow of the state.
Patarkatsishvili is now wanted for questioning on those charges.
Bryza appeared to justify the shutdown of Imedi TV by saying the government was “genuinely concerned” that the network was inciting people to overthrow the government on November 7.
While clarifying that he doesn’t know exactly what footage was being aired that day, he made a point of calling on Imedi, which is co-owned and operated by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, to ensure the journalism it produces once back on air is “fully professional.”
The US diplomat also reaffirmed his country’s unequivocal support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, as well as lauding the “remarkable” achievements of Saakashvili’s government in the last four years and the “substantive dialogue” he saw between government and opposition leaders.
And with all independent broadcast news off-air, that is what the Georgian public saw reported on the state-owned broadcaster. In a brief news segment shortly after Bryza’s press conference, the Georgian Public Broadcaster aired the US envoy’s exhortations for both the government and the opposition to be constructive in dialogue and his firm assertion of Washington’s support for restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity.