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GEORGIA IS WAITING FOR REFORMS
ARCHIL GEGESHIDZE,
Senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, Tbilisi
According to the Russian official version of the events which took place one year ago in the Caucasus, Georgian troops severely invaded the territory of South Ossetia, Russia stood up for the civilian population, conducted operation against Georgia, and recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Nobody in Georgia shares this version, where the opinion prevails that upon the pretext of protection of the civilian population of South Ossetia Russia violated all the basic international norms, occupied the part of Georgian territory and strengthened its position there. One of Moscow’s goals was to prevent the process of NATO expansion to the East, which was impossible to achieve by other means.
Georgian opposition criticizes President Mikheil Saakashvili for undemocratic rule and for the fact that he had yielded to the Russian provocations and allowed Russia to involve Georgia into the armed conflict. Anyway Russia remains an aggressor and an occupant in Georgian opposition’s opinion.
Georgia’s foreign policy hasn’t changed. Moreover, Tbilisi’s Western-oriented foreign policy has strengthened. Both the authorities and the opposition and the majority of population stand for Georgia’s integration into the European Union and NATO. After the August events the West has become the key guarantor of the sovereignty of Georgia. The role of the United States and EU has increased. The other matter is that after the conflict with Russia the issues of Georgia’s integration into the EU and NATO were put off.
As concerns the Georgian opposition forces, right after the war with Russia they supported the authorities and declared a moratorium on criticism of Mikheil Saakashvili’s policy. The moratorium was held till October, when Russia withdrew its troops from the so called buffer zones.
Later their criticism of the government became stronger. On April 9, it turned into mass protests, which stopped only in the middle of June. The main goal was to make Saakashvili resign. The opposition insisted that Saakashvili made the fateful mistakes, lost the Georgian territories, Georgia got the new refugees, that’s why he couldn’t be in power any more.
The opposition hoped that under the public pressure Saakashvili would resign, but it didn’t happen.
In the West they weren’t sure, that preterm change of the government was reasonable, and found it better to let Saakashvili be a president till 2013 when his term in office expires. But he has to hold democratic reforms, which he promised.
These reforms are highly expected in Georgia. Constitutional committee and the committee on the election legislature reform have been founded; a judicial reform is also being discussed. Anyway, time will show how profound these reforms will be.
If the reforms are conducted, there is a hope that next elections will be free and honest. This is an achievable task for both the authorities and the opposition, as other political goals are in the distant future. Those include NATO membership, integration with the EU, return of the lost territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
So, the democratization in Georgia is the key and common goal. Among other reasons, the success of Georgia’s democratization will leave Russia without the argument that Tbilisi threatens the stability in the region. But the main point is that the democratization of Georgia will mean the modernization of the country, which will precipitate Georgia’s rapprochement with the NATO and EU, and give a chance of country’s reintegration.
August 12, 2009
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