Alasania pleads for normal relations with Russia

Leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, Irakli Alasania took part in Facebook’s online conference on July 15, where he mentioned that opposition members meeting Russian leaders will deliver no real outcome for the country; however he has underlined the importance of having normal relations with Russia.

“Georgian opposition representatives meeting with Russian ruling forces will impose no result from the views of bilateral relations' restoration, as the opposition representatives have no mandate for this; launching dialogue with Russia is the authorities’ job; we can just speak on how the space for negotiations can be increased, “Alasania said. While responding on the Russian issue, Alasania underlined that antagonistic relations with Russia will create serious obstacles for Georgia to become part of the European family, “ thus negotiations with Russia have vital importance for us. As for the format of the negotiations, I think that negotiations should exist outside of the Geneva talks as well, we can freely use Germany for this, it would be a difficult process, but we should start it.”

Pointing out the importance of negotiations, Alasania commented on the authorities' different attitude regarding the issue, “we can see declarations for conflict regulations without any outcome, as Saakashvili’s attitude regarding the conflicts has not changed. He has no belief that the conflict might be resolved through negotiations. In 2005-2006, GEL 1.5 billion was spent on the military sphere. If such a sum had been spent on common projects, on the agriculture sector, for example, we would be able to avoid the conflict.”

A significant part of Alasania’s speech was dedicated to future intentions, as he emphasized that old methods need to be freshened up, “Currently, the opposition 6 for instance is working on serious issues while the existence of such Government, which is ignoring us, makes things very difficult. However it does not mean that we will stop, we will work harder. The old style of work, should be replaced with a new one, that is why I am in politics now, but if we want to advance we should collaborate with all those parties which also want it.” He is also against radicalism in Georgian politics, “my opponent is not my enemy, and in fact I have an absolutely different attitude regarding the issue. An opponent’s viewpoint should be listened and understood, after which one should explain why he has a different viewpoint. Such kinds of attitudes to one another will create a high political culture in the country.”

Very different from Alasania’s statements were the Georgian authorities who consider that their actions, activities and priorities directly meet the Georgian people’s interests, confirmed by the ruling team’s success in elections and in different international findings. The majority representatives have frequently stated that the Georgian government chose the peaceful way for regulating the conflict and the Georgian position on non use of military force during conflict regulation was a sign of this. They have also stated that the Georgian authorities have repeatedly suggested dialogue, without preconditions to the Russians, which has been ignored by their Northern neighbor.

Analyst Nika Chitadze, who considers Alasania and his team as progressive opposition in the country, shared Alasania’s position that several opposition members' visit to Russia is useless, “those opposition parties just use such meetings for their PR. The dialogue should start between the states, only in this case would some real outcomes be possible." He went on to tell the Messenger that such negotiations could begin initially in an economic direction.