American Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, were in Georgia this week, visiting the representatives of the Georgian Government, representatives of the opposition parties and the non-governmental sector.
“In order to return to the right path, the first step should be taken by the Government of Georgia. We are waiting for its proposals,” Shaheen said in her first statement on arrival.
“In light of the increasingly aggressive actions of authoritarian nations like Russia, which invaded Georgia 16 years ago, it is important that we reaffirm the United States’ strong support for the right of the Georgian people to have a country that can determine its own future,” the Senator said. “During our meetings here with government officials and civil society organizations, we once again committed to support the aspirations of the Georgian people towards European integration – but we also stated that we will not be inactive in the face of democratic backsliding and false statements aimed at the United States.”
She claimed that the first step to returning to the right path should be taken by the Government of Georgia.
“We need to see free and fair elections and a good-faith effort to repeal the Foreign Agents Act, which is doing more harm than good to the country as we move forward with our EU membership agenda. The first step to return to the right path should be taken by the Government of Georgia, and we are waiting for its proposals.”
Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia, said the government had already told its colleagues very clearly how they saw the reset of Georgian-American relations.
“It is important that in the next year, we not see such processes as those we have seen in the last four years, for example, what the former American Ambassador was doing. Resetting relations requires a fair, correct, healthy approach. Steps have been taken on our side, we are in standby mode, we are waiting for reciprocal steps to be taken by our American colleagues.”
Mamuka Mdinaradze, parliamentary majority leader of the Georgian Dream party criticized the visiting congressman, citing Google as labelling Mike Turner as “one of the most corrupt congressmen.”
“It is sad that such people come and give critical assessment to the Georgian Dream.”
Mayor of the capital, Kakha Kaladze, told journalists that, “At the level of statements, what we heard from them was a campaign of lies about the transparency law. They claimed that transparency is bad. When I’m doing something wrong, if you’re my friend, you should tell me what I’m doing wrong. We did not hear any arguments about the law, they only had one answer: ‘because.’ That is not the right attitude. We respect the strategic partners of the country, we are ready for friendship and cooperation, but it should be mutual. I think that these relations have reached a dead end and need to be restarted. The Government of Georgia is taking concrete steps to deepen existing relations,” Kaladze concluded.
Opposition MP Zurab Japaridze, of the Girchi More Freedom/Coalition for Change party told media that they had understood from the visiting VIPs that “no reset can happen until the Russian law is withdrawn, and until the anti-Western propaganda is stopped.”
“That Ivanishvili himself did not meet them is telling,” Japaridze said. “But the fact that the senators themselves underlined this shows that everything has been revealed, that they know exactly who is managing the processes in this country, who is the source of all these problems.”
By Team GT
