The President claimed that it is a tragedy when specific persons call the main partners the war party for years and say nothing about the neighboring country, which occupies 20% of our territory.
She noted she believes that the population will have their say in the elections and she trusts the Georgian people, and she called on the participants of the conference to monitor the process, to be as attentive and representative as they are today.
“I am glad to host you in the Orbeliani Palace when your conference is being held in Tbilisi for the eighth time. Every time, you arrive in Tbilisi at very important moments in the history of this country. But I think this year is a very special time. It is not only important, but also a decisive and existential moment for Georgia,” she told the delegates. “I am not sure that in recent times we have had such decisive moments as we will have on October 26.
“Georgia is really at a turning point. The Georgian Dream has ceased to be a dream, it has become a nightmare, which separates Georgia from what was its long-standing goal, not a dream. It was never a dream. It was a goal, it was an ambition, it was an aspiration, not only after Georgia gained independence. , (more than 30 years ago) but for centuries, Georgia always turned towards the West, towards Europe, and it always looked at the West, because it always wanted to be independent from the empires, especially from our northern neighbor. Today, what is happening is a tragedy for Georgia.
“It’s a tragedy when some, I’m not saying us, but some call our main partners a war party for years and say nothing about the neighboring country that occupies 20% of our territory. It’s a tragedy when you start messing around and don’t know where your main focus is. It’s a tragedy for a person, an individual, and it’s an even bigger tragedy for a country. Especially for a country like Georgia, which for centuries has always known how to protect its independence, its values and cultural values. Georgians appreciated one of these values for centuries – it was tolerance, diversity. So, the country that is presented today is not a Georgian country, it is something different. This is a country that will be ready to obey the occupier, will be ready to make concessions to the occupier, will be ready to turn its back on those who supported Georgia and the Georgian state during these years, and indeed, you all have contributed to the construction of state institutions. We see a country where almost all institutions have been emptied of substance and independence.
“One survived more or less – the President’s Institute, but it too was attacked. You all remember the impeachment procedure, and you all know that in terms of real power, except for the power of speech, the institution of the president was gradually denied almost all the powers that would be able to oppose what is happening in the country. We see that Georgian Dream, the ruling party, is really moving, step by step, and then in an accelerated way towards something that is completely foreign to this country.
“When we have the latest speeches of the honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, who practically declares war first on our partners and calls them war parties, but also declares war on his own population, the political forces in the country, when they announce in advance that they will get a constitutional majority (which is their dream) And political parties will be banned, or they will be sent to the justice system, which no longer exists. We saw yesterday and the day before yesterday how the Constitutional Court is now trying to justify against the whole reality that the Russian law does not really take away the European future of Georgia, that it does not affect our main orientation. So all this is unacceptable.
“This is, first of all, unacceptable for the Georgian people; and the Georgian people have already said twice – last year and this year very clearly – that they do not agree with what is happening in this country; They do not accept this new image of Georgia and that they are not ready to submit to this new authoritarian regime and power.
“The next step of the Georgian people, the Georgian youth (but not only the youth. We tend to say that it was only the youth, but it was a very massive protest) is that the population should come out and say the same thing in the most democratic way, elections. This is the way to Georgia’s stability. I’m not one of those people who say, “Well, let’s see what happens at the polls, and the next day we’ll see what happens in the streets.” No, what happens will happen at the polls, at the ballots. There is no power in this country that can override the will of the people. No. There is an opportunity to falsify the elections to the point of going against the massive expression of the will of the Georgian population.
“So when you ask me – ‘what can we do’, you have done a lot to get Georgia to where it is and you have done a lot to create and support the mentality, because I think that deep down the Georgian mentality is to be free, independent and not to take any form of authoritarianism. Is it internal or external. You supported us with the support of institutions, the development of the state, the opportunity for our young people to travel freely in Europe, the opportunity to study freely in Europe and America, you helped us in supporting and consolidating the great will of independence of the Georgian people. So, I trust the Georgian people, I trust what they will say by voting in the elections. So, in this matter, your need does not stand. You must control; You should be attentive and presentable as you are today. But the decision is ours. The day after the election, you will find me, because you know, I worked with different political parties to unite all the pro-European parties around the Georgian Charter, which is actually our way to meet some of the recommendations of the European Union and to renew the negotiations, to open them up, as was the case with our partners, Ukraine and Moldova.
“This charter is the key to the door that should be opened for Georgia. As soon as the Georgian people openly support both the Charter and this path, I will be the ambassador of this Charter to our European and American friends. So the Europeans will have to start negotiations as soon as possible, and we must quickly implement what is written in the charter, which is very detailed. Our American friends should do a “friendly act” which is also very clearly on the positive side. The negative aspects are not for me to discuss, but the positive aspects are. After the Georgian people do what they need to do, we will need your support. More than ever, for the next stage of our development, we need to do it in a stable environment, and you need a Georgia that will firmly return to its democratic path, a Georgia that is a stable partner, a Georgia that you can trust Crucial; we all know that it is crucial for Ukraine, and we all know that the future of the free world depends very much on what happens in Ukraine. Closer to us, the future of the Black Sea region – and this is important for you – depends on what happens in Ukraine. In Moldova and Georgia, we are the ones who can offer our European and American friends and NATO partners a free, safe and cooperative Black Sea, which is very important for the future of the Western world, for Europe as well as for the United States. We are all in the same situation. We have to do our part, and you have to do yours. I am very optimistic because I don’t believe in dreams, but I believe in what was and remains the destiny of this country. The Georgian people know this very well,” said the President.
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