GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SLAMS UN, WARNS AGAINST BUYING PROPERTY IN ABKHAZIA – TEXT
Rustavi-2 TV
6 Sep 07
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has defiantly rejected
calls by the UN and other international organizations to relocate
a patriot youth camp located in the village of Ganmukhuri, on the
Georgian-controlled side of the Abkhaz border. In a speech at the
camp, Saakashvili praised the international community for "finally
speaking out" following the alleged bombing of the Georgian village
of Tsitelubani on 6 August whereas before "no-one cared" when Georgia
endured similar "attacks". He expressed the hope that the world would
give a similar reaction to the expulsion of most of the ethnic Georgian
population of Abkhazia following the 1992-93 war.
Saakashvili warned foreigners against purchasing property in Abkhazia
that was abandoned by Georgian refugees and pledged that all such
property would be confiscated and returned to its original owner. He
also touted the country’s accomplishments under his rule and said
Georgia was "closer than ever before" to reclaiming its breakaway
regions and achieving unity. The following is the text of Saakashvili’s
speech carried live by Rustavi-2 TV on 6 September:
[Presenter] We go now live to Ganmukhuri, in the [Georgian-Abkhaz]
conflict zone, where the Georgian president has opened a new school.
[Saakashvili, transmission begins mid-sentence] – where gangs would
come in from various regions of Abkhazia and from other regions of
Georgia, as well as local robbers would run rampant. A few years ago,
when we came up with the idea to open the patriot camp – that was two
years ago – I said that a school should be built in Ganmukhuri. It
was set up very well. Now we are opening a kindergarten and pre-school
and I hope we will also do that well.
Kristina here [a young girl at his side] joined us in the car. On
the way Kristina told me, [Education Minister] Kakha Lomaia and
[Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Province governor] Zaza Gorozia that she was
reading (?Main Reed) and Harry Potter. She wants to say a few words.
[Young girl] I want to extend my great thanks to the president and to
the minister for giving us such a wonderful school. My Abkhaz coevals
live quite close by here. Some of them have been my guests. I am
proud of my president and minister. I told them that they have made
my dreams come true and that we love them very much. Mr President,
you have crossed over on the Inguri bridge [on the border with
separatist-controlled territory; as heard]. There are numerous such
bridges in Georgia, but we are confident that we, together with you,
will manage to build yet one more bridge – a bridge between us and
Abkhaz children. It will be as beautiful as a rainbow. This will fulfil
yet another of our dreams: to see old Dioscuria [old Greek name for
Sukhumi], which is frequently mentioned as a small paradise, because we
Georgians are capable of forgiveness, mercy and great love. [Applause]
[Saakashvili] But in order to build good bridges and to ensure
that everything is the way we want it, we must be strong, my dear
people. We must be very strong and we must work very efficiently. We
must be united. Georgia now has incredible support throughout the
whole world. Georgia is now incredibly united, as never before. It
is the combination of these two factors that will certainly lead us
to victory.
Georgia would always lose out when the rest of the world did not
care about its fate and when we attacked and besieged each other,
when neighbour shot at neighbour. These villages have witnessed all
of this. At that time their country’s army did not bring relief,
instead posed a danger and it was an unpleasant event when it would
come to your village. At that time the police were not protectors,
but enemies. We have now turned all of that on its head. I want us
all together to comprehend just how far Georgia has come and how
close we are to ultimate reunification and ultimate victory.
Our task today is to maintain all of this and grow stronger with
each passing day, develop the economy with each passing day – this
year we will have a very high economic growth rate. We must build new
homes, new cities – we are building new cities. Look at how Sighnaghi
[town in eastern Georgia] has been built. Look at Shaori [village in
northern Georgia] will be built.
Look at what Batumi has become – it has become the best city on the
Black Sea. Look at what Kutaisi [town in western Georgia] will become
very soon – we have separate programmes for Kutaisi. The same for
Tbilisi, Zugdidi and many other cities. We are working very hard on
Zugdidi. All of this is being done so that it can later be extended
to the whole of Georgia. I want us all to remember that no matter
what a beautiful city Tbilisi – where I was born and raised – is,
no matter how beautiful Batumi – which is a city of incredible beauty
on the Black Sea – is, no matter how unique and miraculous Sighnaghi
is, no matter how much we may love Zugdidi and Kutaisi, Georgia’s
most beautiful city is another city. It is called Sukhumi and we
must rebuild Sukhumi in the exact same way [applause; crowd chants
"Georgia, Georgia"].
I want you to know that there are two kinds of Georgian
politicians. One type believes that a nice office, incomes, salaries
and elections mean everything. I heard a few days ago on television
[opposition politicians were saying]: the elections are coming
soon. These hapless people fail to realize one thing – we are not
engaged in an election campaign, we have a historic chance, the
likes of which no generation of Georgians has had over the past 10
centuries. We have come to a historic moment – there is great effort
and a great sense of togetherness which is aimed at reunifying Georgia,
strengthening Georgia and establishing and cementing its place on
the world map. This is much bigger than any elections, this is much
bigger than any political campaign. Today, thankfully, our people,
our population, our multi-ethnic society, which consists of Ossetians,
Armenians, Azerbaijanis, ethnic Georgians – naturally, and people of
other creeds, representatives of many other ethnic groups. Every one
of them has understood much more than certain politicians – namely,
that we are the most united today. Now the most important thing is
rolling up our sleeves and getting down to work and everything else
is of hundredth-rate significance and is not even worthy of attention.
I want to warn everyone-[changes tack] There has been quite a stir in
these past few days about the selling of property which was snatched up
during one of the most immoral and still forgotten ethnic cleansings
in the history of the world – the expulsion of nearly 500,000 people
[as heard] from Abkhazia.
These 500,000 people included 300,000 ethnic Georgians; tens
of thousands of ethnic Jews – I have seen them in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem and I know how much they miss Abkhazia; Pontic Greeks,
who were evacuated by the Greek navy and to this day long to return
to Abkhazia; Ukrainians, Russians and many Abkhaz. I want to tell
everyone that this property belongs to these people and that the
Georgian state will protect them. [In a significantly louder voice:]
Any attempt on the part of some adventurist from Russia to buy so much
as one inch of this land-[changes tack] I vow and I guarantee that we
will confiscate all of it from them and leave them with nothing. They
will find themselves with nothing [applause and cheers].
We are not developing so that some foreigner [Georgian: gadamtieli;
literally: "person from across the mountains"] can come here and
appropriate the property of honourable and peaceful people. We are not
becoming stronger and showing the world some of the best examples of
development so that someone can oppress and belittle us. Our task is
to unite Georgia, to have peace in Georgia and create conditions for
the development of each and every citizen. We do not need destruction
at all.
But I also want to tell the international community: many things
have happened recently. For the first time the world has spoken out
absolutely openly and publicly against attacks on Georgia. Before,
they would bomb us, kill our people and destroy our houses and still,
no-one would speak out, no-one cared about us. Now, Georgia’s friends
have formed a real coalition.
And I want this to extend to all international organizations, to all
bureaucrats at international organizations. We do not need hapless
and amoral advice and friendly consultations where we are told that
we need to move the camp away from the Abkhaz border. Some of the
children who come here were expelled from their homes there. [Imagine:]
A bandit kicks you out of your house, appropriates your property and
sits in that house while the police come and advise you not to walk
along that street in order to avoid angering that bandit and that
it is better to steer clear and just leave. We will not leave. Let
those bandits leave and return what belongs to us [applause].
Therefore, we ask not for such advice, not even for such friendly
consultations. We demand that you [international organizations]
speak out and we demand that the UN and other organizations answer
for what they have done in order to right the consequences of this
absolutely mindless, inhumane crime, one of the worst committed against
humanity in the 20th century, and what has been done to ensure that all
resolutions which concern the return of the refugees – not just in Gali
[predominately ethnic Georgian-populated district on the border with
the rest of Georgia, where many Georgian IDPs returned following the
conflict]-[changes tack] Gali is right here, Gali is not a problem. We
must return to Gagra, we must return to Bichvinta [Russian: Pitsunda],
we must return to Ochamchire, we must return to Sukhumi [applause].
I want to tell all bureaucrats to show decency. We must all together
raise our voices against that which undermines the conscience of
mankind and the principles of humanity. Together we must all manage
to establish peace once again in our multi-ethnic, many centuries-old
country.
I want to once again welcome you, my dear people. I want pay great
thanks to [Deputy Culture Minister] Lado Vardzelashvili and everyone
who worked on this camp. The patriot movement is the most effective
movement in Georgia.
It is often said: what is this, a military camp? We do not need
military camps at our patriot camps. We already have very good military
camps in the Georgian armed forces. These are not paramilitary
camps. These are not camps where people are told to hate certain
people. These are camps where friendship, love for our fellow citizens
and love for our homeland are taught, where people are taught that
we are all part of a greater whole, where people come to simply be in
contact with other people. There is no politics in this. If there is
politics, it is the best kind of politics – it is a policy of human
relations, it is a policy of having a civilized attitude towards the
state, it is a policy of our future. I want to point out that there
has not been a single problem, not a single misstep. Each young person
here is better than the next. A great many works have been created
here by talented young people – music has been written, poems have
been written, pictures have been drawn. Ultimately, that is why we
are all here. I have seen other camps, Soviet camps. I was in Artek
myself [Soviet pioneer camp in Crimea]. Not long ago one idiot wrote
that I applied my experience in Artek to Georgia. You have nothing in
common with Soviet pioneers, thankfully. You are studying something
else altogether. That was an inhumane regime while we are learning
humanity and human development, we are learning humanism and everything
that is part of the modern world. I want to thank you all very much. I
want to tell you that this year we have 30,000 young people staying
at the patriot youth camps and that we will increase this number to
50,000 next year and double the number of kids at this camp. We will
increase the number of camps. We will equip them even better – though
this place is very well set up, as I often see it on television. And
indeed when I look at you-[changes tack] Everyone in Georgia wishes
they could be a little younger, 17, 18 or 20 years old. [They say:]
I wish I could go to Ganmukhuri and that life and youth would begin
now. Thank you very much. I wish you success and victory.