WHY DID THE LEADER OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL MEET BONDO SHALIKIAN?

Daily Georgian Times
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May 10 2010
Georgia

"We were told in the Duma that Abkhazians and Ossetians had been
coming and talking to them and that is why they had been granted
recognition. You should also have visited us and told us what you
wanted, they said," Chair of the People’s Party Koba Davitashvili
says in an interview with GT following his recent trip to Russia to
attend the Assembly of the Georgian Diaspora.

Q: What have you brought back from Russia?

A: I have brought hope

Q: Has Ebralidze given you hope?

A: Yes he has. He has given me the hope that the country will be
reunited again. Meeting members of Russian political circles and the
Georgian Diaspora has filled me with hope. Khubutia, Dzasokhov and
Khomerik were there. There is such a pro-Georgian mood in Russia.

The main topic of every future meeting must be reuniting of Georgian
nation. Before I went to Moscow I did not know the situation there,
I was even a bit sceptical. I expected our Diaspora there to be in
a difficult situation. But I saw a rather different mood there. They
see the need to regularise relations between the countries as well.

Q: Ebralidze did not invite you. What did your visit mean therefore?

A: We went there on our own initiative. Ebralidze made a public
invitation but not give us a personal one. When I agreed to go I knew
I was taking a risk.

Q: Why was it so risky? Were you afraid of being accused of being a
traitor again?

A: Not only this. I am always sceptical about people who say they
want to be President of Georgia. We support a Parliamentary republic
and Ebralidze’s position is not acceptable for us.

Q: Has he now changed his mind about becoming President out of respect
for you?

A: No, he simply renounced his candidacy. We were fascinated by this
step. Everything turned out the way we wanted it to, which we did
not expect. Ebralidze also declared that he is not planning to form
a new political party.

Q: But he also announced that he would support any existing political
party and finance it. This will not be the National Council, which you
are a part of, or he would have directly invited you to the event and
made a point of singling you out. Does he support a different group?

A: I do not know. But Ebralidze has no antipathy towards us. He agreed
with our proposal to form a Georgian lobby in Russia. In the same
way that the Armenian lobby exists and takes care of Armenians living
in Russia we want the Georgian Diaspora to take care of Georgians. I
went to Moscow looking for Georgians and I found them, fortunately.

Q: Didn’t you go there to get money?

A: No, I went to see Georgians. When Georgians talk to other
Georgians this conversation will achieve something. Any possible strain
disappeared when I said at the assembly that we did not want to create
tension between the Government and opposition while in Moscow or ask
Ebralidze for money to finance this. We did not want to pronounce
manifestos and search for support in the Diaspora either. Our desire
was to form a Georgian lobby which would lobby for Georgian interests
in Russia. Russian political parties are interested in Georgians
because some are of a higher social status than some Russians.

Georgians are businessmen, politicians, actors and sportsmen, and
it is clear that Georgians have big influence in Russia. The Russian
Duma is trying to find a common language with its people and this is
something we can profit from. I saw things differently from within
Georgia differently but when I saw what was going on on the ground
I had a different attitude. If half a million people gather with one
idea do you think Putin will try and dictate his imperialistic schemes
to them? That is why it is necessary to form a Georgian lobby. The
Georgians living in Russia are a serious force, and when so many
people adopt a common resolution they can ignore Putin’s objections.

Q: Before you went to Moscow Klimiashvili said that you had not been
invited. Why are you fighting?

A: I do not know why he said such a thing, you should ask him. He came
across as an offended man. When we came we were the centre of attention
and many did not like this. Our aim was not to attract attention.

Q: Why did Zhirinovski not shake hands with you? Does he not believe
in you?

A: What a huge scandal you have started! Neither he nor I had any
desire to shake hands. Besides Zhirinovski we also met the Communists
and Mikhail Leontiev. When I talked to him about the resolution adopted
at the assembly he backed me. Zhirinovski and others understand very
well that we will not ignore the issue of Abkhazia and Ossetia or
the issue of easing the visa regime with Russia. We were told in the
Duma that Abkhazians and Ossetians had been coming and talking to
them and that is why they had been granted recognition. You should
also have visited us and told us what you wanted, they said.

Q: Now you have returned, do you hope that the ice between our nations
will thaw?

A: Why not? I found out one more thing there. Everyone ignored the
Russian opposition before this, Georgians thought that they would
negotiate with Putin and everything would be alright. But this is not
so. If you talk to Putin alone and neglect the opposition it will
hurt you more. the Anti-Georgian attitude is very strong in Russia
in general and we have to think about new rules of play.

Q: What attitude does the Russian opposition have towards Georgians?

A: They have a sharply negative attitude and we must not hide this.

Our aim was to dissipate this negativity and establish the first
contacts.

Q: Will the opposition use Russian capital to finance their election
campaigns?

A: This is a natural question but not a pleasant one. I underline once
again that we did not go to Russia for money, this was election PR. If
Saakashvili cannot declare us traitors and agents all his plans will
come to nothing.

Q: Has Bondo Shalikian now become the new danger to Saakashvili?

A: All they said about Ebralidze they are now saying about Shalikian.

They want everyone to forget about Ebralidze and the assembly and
think about Shalikian.

Q: It has been said that Dzidziguri was given money …

A: Even worse things were said. Shalikian was a Deputy and to stop
him sitting they invented so many dirty things that they sound funny
today. Saakashvili’s politics is based on searching for enemies and
he will find one for the elections.

Q: Why did Shalikian thank you in Saint Petersburg?

A: He thanked us for protecting him. I said to him what I said to
Jaba Ioseliani, I was protecting not him but the law.

Q: If you come to power will you try to bring back the politicians
who have fled Saakashvili?

A: It is not our aim to either bring any of them back or arrest
Saakashvili’s cohorts.

By Zhana Asanidze, translated from the Georgian edition of The Georgian
Times newspaper 2010.05.10 16:20