Translated material
White headscarf revolution
Protesters in Tbilisi demand the resignation of President Saakashvili
Georgia is again being tested by a revolutionary situation. In Tbilisi, on Rustaveli Avenue, in front of the parliament building, there is an impromptu opposition rostrum . Yesterday the opposition decided to pitch tents there as well. Emotional speakers replace each other. Nearby - under a cellophane canopy from the rain - some of the opposition leaders are starving. The leader of the People's Party, Koba Davitashvili, dressed in an abrek's burqa, promises in front of television cameras not to stop the hunger strike until complete victory. For the opposition, this victory is the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. However, it is felt that if the authorities fulfill the initial demand to hold parliamentary elections next spring, the oppositionists are ready to tolerate Saakashvili until the presidential elections, which are scheduled for 2008.Over the avenue echoes: “Misha, gadadeki!” (“Misha, resign!”). Most of the demonstrators spent 24 hours a day here even during the “Rose Revolution” four years ago, but are again disappointed. “We were brought here by love for the Georgian people,” says the leader of the Freedom movement, the son of the ex-president Konstantin Gamsakhurdia. “And these authorities have become so disconnected from the people that they already look like the Martians of a science fiction writer.”
Republican MP David Zurabishvili, like other oppositionists wearing a distinctive white neckerchief (the color white symbolizes purity of thoughts at a rally), tells Vremya Novostei that it is difficult to predict how long the protests will last. “Until victory,” the parliamentarian smiles. At this time, an elderly woman hugs him: “Dato, we are from Surami (a city west of Tbilisi - Ed. ), hold on, we will rally as long as necessary!”
The question of “how long will it take until complete victory” is perhaps the most important, since it worries any average person in conditions of partial paralysis of public life. The central city highway is blocked, schools and shops are closed in the center.
A former associate of President Saakashvili, Irakli Okruashvili, who called Saakashvili “a modern Adolf Hitler” on television from Munich, said that the days of this government are “numbered.” The ideologist of the ruling party, deputy Giorgi Bokeria (whom Okruashvili called Goebbels), said that the former prosecutor general and defense minister was used as a “disposable syringe” so that opposition protests, losing their intensity, would receive a doping injection.
The authorities continue to ignore the demands of the demonstrators. “We will not give up our positions under the influence of blackmail,” said Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli. “Mikheil Saakashvili is not an emperor, he must return to the constitutional framework,” Georgian political scientist Paata Zakareishvili told Vremya Novostey. - If he does not enter into dialogue with his own people, then the people will pass judgment on him. The same one that was handed down to President Eduard Shevardnadze four years ago (early resignation as a result of the “Rose Revolution” - Ed. ).”
Responding to Irakli Okruashvili’s definition, opposition supporters brought to the rally a doll depicting President Mikheil Saakashvili with a characteristic mustache. Their colleagues went to a picket at the Russian Embassy, where they hung portraits of several Russian politicians, including the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, who participated as a mediator in negotiations on the resignation of powers with Eduard Shevardnadze, and a few months later, in May 2004, with the then leader of Adjara Aslan Abashidze. “Moscow, take Saakashvili to Russia!” - the picketers suggest. But it is unimaginable that, given the current level of Russian-Georgian relations, Moscow would take part in solving internal Georgian problems.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday: “Russia is concerned about what is happening now in Georgia. I am convinced that the Georgian people deserve a better future, and in this they can rely on the support of Russia.” Due to the fact that Mikheil Saakashvili linked the opposition’s actions with the “hand of the Kremlin,” Sergei Lavrov limited himself to the remark that “the farce that accompanies the actions of the Georgian leadership is obvious to everyone.” After these words, Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry for clarification.
Representatives of the Georgian leadership regularly say that Russia benefits from destabilization in Georgia in order to at least disrupt the process of the country's integration into NATO. Badri Patarkatsishvili is considered the main promoter of Russian interests, but it does not take into account that the oligarch has been put on the wanted list by Russian authorities. Chairman of the Committee on Defense and National Security Giorgi Targamadze said that it is Patarkatsishvili who controls the processes on Rustaveli Avenue, as he expects to become the president of Georgia and appoint Irakli Okruashvili as head of government. Supporters of the authorities draw caricatures of Patarkatsishvili, depicting the businessman as “Karabas-Badribos”, pulling the strings of the opposition puppets.
“Patarkatsishvili is an enemy of the current authorities four times,” Georgian political scientist Giorgi Khukhashvili told Vremya Novostei. - Firstly, he has money, secondly, he is associated with the independent television company Imedi, thirdly, he, unlike many representatives of the leadership, is a courageous person. Finally, fourth and most important: he has no ambitions to become a leader.”
As for Irakli Okruashvili, on Tuesday the Chairman of Parliament Nino Burjanadze admitted that his appearance in power was a “big mistake” of the Georgian leadership. “It’s a shame that Okruashvili was perceived as one of the leaders for many years. He dared what was impossible to imagine. This is a big lesson for us, like everything else, and we will certainly respond to it,” she said. Nino Burjanadze invited the opposition to “analyze the situation and come to its senses.”