Georgia Hopes for Merkel’s Assistance

Von Ingrid Mülle, Der Tagesspiegel

President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili wants to avoid direct confrontation with Russia. He hopes for good contacts between the Chancellor of Germany and Russia, which still occupies part of Georgian territory. Merkel should create an opportunity to start dialogue with Russia.

That man cannot sit still in one place. President Mikheil Saakashvili sits restless in the red armchair in the Hotel Bavaria. The guest from Tbilisi might be preparing for the most important meeting in the framework of the Munich Security Conference. He is meeting Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

Saakashvili has great expectations from this meeting because he hopes the Chancellor will assist him to speed up the EU Associated Agreement, he said in his interview with Der Tagesspiegel. However, the Chancellor can also assist him in starting up dialogue with Russia.

Georgia could avoid any confrontation but there are some other powers in the region. “Any kind of contact is better than confrontation,” said Saakashvili when describing the situation between Tbilisi and Moscow soon after the war in South Ossetia in 2008. He added that Moscow acts as if the government of Georgia does not exist at all.

“As usual, the Russians avoid meeting with me,” he said – “Germany should use its contacts to help convince Russia to stop confrontations, the concentration of armaments near the [Georgian] border and create chances for dialogue.”

Georgia wants peaceful negotiations even though part of their territory is occupied. It is not necessary for the first dialogue to be arranged with President Medvedev or Prime-Minister Putin. In this case, the position is not important. If Germany facilitates this dialogue, Georgia will be very pleased. The president of Georgia speaks about the West’s interest in this problem. His country is the “leading reformer state in the region,” and it is a democrat state. “We promote access to Afghanistan and we have serious importance in the view of energetic security,” said the president.

Unlike Merkel, he does not want to speak about Egypt and his personal experience when he was leader of the Rose Revolution; he does not speak about his predecessor Eduard Shevardnadze. “It is beyond my competence to give advice to Mubarak,” he said and added: “the next decades are important not the next months.” It is necessary to think about Iran. “There is no single scheme for all revolutions. Ukraine also tried to act like us,” but the result was different. “Waving of the flags” is not important but the “routine” which should support the critical crowd to reach some changes and reforms. His country has been doing it for 7 years already.

In 2007, he dispersed demonstrators who protested against him in the street. He does not see anything dramatic in it. “I do not regret such a harsh reaction.” Afterwards, he held snap presidential elections and received only 53% of votes in comparison to 96% votes which he gained in 2004.

He cannot take part in the presidential elections in 2013 but amendments were introduced to the Constitution of Georgia which could see the Prime Minister with more power. Might Saakashvili have already taken measures to guarantee his future like his hated Russian brother Putin did in Russia? He does not deny the allegation that Saakashvili wants to be prime-minister but he does not want to speak about the future. “I would get disabled in this case.” There are 2.5 years to go in his reformatory presidency term. 

Now he is in a hurry. The reformer said goodbye to us and left for the meeting.

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