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RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN RELATIONS AND WAYS TO SETTLE THE GEORGIAN-ABKHAZIAN CONFLICT
TEMUR IAKOBASHVILI,
Georgia’s State Minister for Reintegration, Tbilisi
It is impossible to settle the conflicts, on which I am working, without Russia’s participation, especially today when the situation has become so strained that the so-called "frozen conflicts" have got "unfrozen". At this stage this situation can be considered to be negative since there are the Russian military units in our territory that entered there illegally.
I’ve arrived in Moscow not only to exchange opinions with my Russian colleagues, but also to tell Russia's authorities what is happening in the conflict zones, and to share our ideas how to settle those conflicts. We also would like to learn Russia’s approaches to the conflict settlement and to try to come to terms with the Russian policy-makers in those spheres.
We were almost on the brink of war, the provocation military operations might start in the Kodori gorge. When President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and I had made statements about the brinkmanship, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France Bernard Koushner called Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Lavrov. I think that this call helped Moscow and Tbilisi to avert a serious military confrontation.
At this stage there is a much slighter chance that the confrontation will occur, but unfortunately it is still possible because in Georgia there are Russia’s illegal troops which were brought into the country as an extra contingent of the peacemaking forces. In our opinion, they are not peacemaking forces. Those are the airborne troops with howitzers. I can show you the documents prescribing what a peacemaking operation is and what arms of the service must take part in it. Nothing is written about the airborne troops there. We do not regard paratroopers with howitzers having a range of 15 kilometers as peacemakers. Those are military units with offensive armaments. We hope that they will leave Georgia legally.
Georgia is carrying out its obligations on the rehabilitation of the conflict zones and with respect to the refugees. We made it clear that we should take care of the people living in the conflict areas regardless of their ethnic origins.
We are speaking of the Georgians as well as of those who lived in those places, we are speaking of the property rights of all the people who had property there. Wherever they are, the Georgian government thinks that they reserve the right to the property they had before the war. That’s why the Georgian Parliament has passed the law on restitution and we are working towards its implementation. The specific steps are being taken to this end. I am not happy with them because I believe that more must be done. After the parliamentary elections, scheduled for May 21, we will review our commitments and, of course, meet them.
As regards the refugees return, unfortunately, no refugee came back to Abkhazia. The May 15 UN resolution confirmed that. We have got the international tool that will help the refugees to return. I am referring not only to the refugees, who are the ethnic Georgians, but also to other refugees including the Abkhazians who have left Abkhazia during the war.
The situation in the conflict regions can tell on the negotiations on Russia’s joining the WTO. At the previous negotiations the Georgian party said that the April decision made by the Russian authorities about the establishment of the consular relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia seriously prevented Georgia from giving its consent to Russia’s joining the WTO. This obstacle will exist until the decree is abolished.
I can predict that the Georgian party will hold the opinion outlined above. If Russia does not change its position, Georgia’s position will remain unchanged too, because we cannot talk about the trade regimes when Russia is trying to annex Georgia.
At least, three things must be done to settle the conflicts.
Firstly, there is a need to return to the status quo, to withdraw the troops and to abolish the abovementioned decree. It is necessary to think over the formats of the negotiations that would settle the conflicts. Our specific proposals were made public by Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili. Those proposals contain very reasonable approaches. We can resolve the issues of the free economic zone in Gali and Ochamchira districts, which will increase the living standard of the people who live there. This will let the refugees come back, make it possible to deisolate Abkhazia, to peacefully hold the Olympic Games in Sochi, to construct the Olympic village and to use Abkhazia’s resources.
What do we expect from the USA? We expect the international organizations’ assistance in the settlement of the conflicts. We think that the negotiations on conflict settlement must be carried on in the international organizations, like the OSCE or the EU. The USA belongs to the OSCE and its participation in the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict through the OSCE would make sense. The USA can do a good deal for that at the level of the relations with Russia and at the level of the international organizations.
What is going on in Georgia concerns not only this country. The Georgian events will have an effect on both the Caucasus and Ukraine. Today we can hear unpleasant statements about the Crimea, made by the Russian politicians. The efforts are being made to change East Europe’s frontiers. If this happens, it will not be limited to Georgia.
We think that all the existing negotiations formats should be revised since they are inefficient. After the events that had taken place for the last month and a half, those formats ceased to exist.
We would like the new talks to be conducted within the framework of the European international organizations. Russia should also take part in the negotiations. When we are talking about the international operation, Russia is expected to participate in it. But Russia should not have an exclusive right. This country should be one of the parties, participating in the settlement of the conflict.
The material is based on Temur IAKOBASHVILI's address to the press conference in the Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti on the subject “Results of the official visit to Moscow” on May 16, 2008.
May 20, 2008
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