GEORGIA WON’T JOIN CAUCASUS UNION BEFORE RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL

Today’s Zaman
Aug 22 2008
Turkey

Tbilisi will not participate in a proposed cooperation platform for
the Caucasus as long as Russia doesn’t entirely withdraw its forces
from Georgian soil, Georgian Ambassador to Turkey Grigol Mgaloblishvili
said yesterday.

"Despite the fact that the cease-fire agreement was signed and
that it took these responsibilities vis-a-vis the European Union,
Russian invader forces are still in Georgia," Mgaloblishvili said
in an interview with the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s
(TRT) TRT2 station, which focuses on news and information broadcasting.

Approached by Today’s Zaman following the broadcast of the interview,
Mgaloblishvili said his country has always been open to close
cooperation both at the bilateral and regional level, particularly
with Turkey. "We are always ready for both bilateral and regional
cooperation, either with Turkey or with our other allies. However,
as long as this invasion continues, and as long as even one
Russian soldier remains on Georgian soil, we will not be involved
in any cooperation mechanism that will involve ‘an invader power’,"
Mgaloblishvili told Today’s Zaman.

As of Thursday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had met with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to seek Baku’s support for the
Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. The proposal is still
in the preparatory stages, but diplomats say it is meant to start
as a regional economic cooperation platform before tackling issues
of conflict. Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are
planned to be members of the initiative, which was proposed after a
regional crisis erupted following a Georgian military offensive in its
Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia earlier this month.

An EU-sponsored cease-fire says both Russian and Georgian forces
must retreat to the positions they held before fighting broke out
on Aug. 7 in Georgia’s separatist republic of South Ossetia, which
has close ties to Russia. The agreement also says Russian forces can
work in a so-called "security zone" that extends seven kilometers
into Georgia from South Ossetia.

Russian forces took up positions Thursday at the entrance to Georgia’s
main Black Sea port city, excavating trenches and setting up mortars
facing the city, despite Russia’s promise to pull back troops from
Georgia, The As-sociated Press reported from Poti.