Mr. Alasania, who was the former Head of Government of Abkhazia, resigned from his position as Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations and formed the Our Georgia - Free Democrats Party in 2009. The opposition movement, which has gained significant traction since the party’s inception two years ago, has evolved in recent weeks after billionaire Boris Ivanishvili, who formerly supported President Saakashvili through handsome donations, decided to stop spending millions on a government he no longer supports, and take the political reigns into his own hands.
The Diplomatic Courier sat down with Mr. Alasania in Washington just after he met with politicians to discuss what’s important to his campaign success, Georgia’s NATO membership, and that imperious Russian neighbor.
***
Diplomatic Courier: In many ways, it has been the year of global uprisings. How are Georgia’s May protests different from those in the Arab world? Is an Arab Spring-like revolution possible in this country?
Irakli Alasania: What’s happening in the Arab world has a different context and a different history, and Georgia has its own history. [Over the past 8 years], it’s more progressive than it was before and Georgia has accomplished a lot in bringing in anti-corruption work and brining in the institutions that help civil service be established. Georgia has already, in its 20 years since regaining independence from the Soviet Union, gone through the revolutions; not one, but several times. And people now appreciate that we should learn and demonstrate how responsibly we can behave to make Georgia’s changes, not through the revolutions anymore, but through the democratic system. This kind of experience was never in the countries that just had revolutions.
DC: What components can be added to make a freer parliamentary election possible?
IA: First is media access. The televised media needs to give the chance to the opposition, and to the members of civil society, to be on the air and to really discuss the issues that are important to the public, [such as] agriculture, getting jobs back, health care, the education system that is broken in the country. How we can do this is to have the long-term monitoring for the elections of the media… which was the case for the local election for only a month; we want to extend this. [Second], we have to depoliticize police. They should not serve the incumbent party; they should be loyal to the law and not politicians. [Last] is fundraising abilities for the opposition; the better part of the businesses that tended to support and contribute money to the opposition were reprimanded by the tax police.
DC: The court system in the country is not in the best shape, and has perhaps even weakened over the past several years. What is on the reform agenda?
IA: The courts are unfortunately subordinate to the prosecutor general’s office in the country. In 2009 and 2010 the acquittal rate in the court was 0.1 percent. It means either that our prosecutors are incredibly brilliant or there is fundamentally something wrong with the system of justice. We have to liberate the courts and they should be independent. This will help also to build up the competitiveness and competitive environment in business, politics and the media.
DC: What are the current NATO efforts in the country and what is your party’s place within those efforts?
IA: My party’s foreign policy objective is to get Georgia embedded into the Atlantic community, and this is a national consensus among many parties in the country that, “our future is with you.” What would make Georgia closer to the European community is precisely building not only defense capabilities but [also] the democratic institutions. It will help us to demonstrate that Georgia is building the lasting institutions that will help the successful model of transformation.
DC: And Russia?
IA: Unfortunately I cannot be that hopeful for the democratic transition and changes in Russia. Russia is occupying almost 20 percent of Georgia’s land, but the world is not recognizing this reality, Georgia is not recognizing this reality, and we’re going to fight back to get our territories from the Russian troops. But the best way to do this is not the war; it’s to get Georgia [to be] a stronger democratic unit [and to make] the economy healthier. The best self defense for Georgia is truly building the democratic state and giving more ammunition to our friends in the United States and Europe to push harder for Russia’s de-occupation of Georgia.
Having said that, Russia is a neighbor of Georgia and it’s a big nuclear country, so Georgia’s policy towards Russia should be pragmatic. And we are pragmatically interested in opening up the trade relationship with Russia; this is why we supported that WTO membership for the Russian Federation. I want the Georgian businesses to have the same opportunities in Russian markets that Russia has in Georgia. The prime minister or national security advisor bluntly advised the Georgian businesses not to seek any opportunities in Russia, and I was surprised, because we need to get those opportunities back. I think Russia is a big market for Georgian agriculture, wine, and other products and we have to explore these possibilities.
DC: What are the key election issues you are focusing on for the campaign?
IA: Education and unemployment [are] skyrocketing because of neglect of agriculture, which was employing 55 percent of Georgia’s labor force. Now, almost two out of three Georgians are unemployed. We are also advocating support for medium- and small-sized businesses. The opportunities are so low in Georgia for medium- and small-size businesses because of the overwhelming monopolies in the Georgian business, and there should be a very clear anti-monopoly system built.
DC: How is the country different from other former Soviet states?
IA: With no disrespect to any other [former] Soviet republic - and we have a very good relationship with everyone in the region except Russia so far - I believe that Georgia is a very modern nation with a rich history. The modernization happened really fast for the past 15 years, and I think there’s a lot of capacity and potential to build, faster than others, the truly democratic institutions. We have the work force that is more progressive, we have a young generation that is educated in the Western countries and now eager to build a new modern Georgia. And I think the geopolitical place and geographical place gives us the opportunity to be the key country in the region, because all the major routes, for example energy transportation, are going through Georgia. If we want to get central Asian and other energy resources to the West, Georgia is a natural place to go through.
DC: You have met with some key people, such as John McCain and others this week in Washington. Did these meetings pick up where you left off after speaking with Joe Biden in 2009?
IA: The American government, senators and Congress people are true friends of Georgia, not the friends of sub-politicians. They support the institution building; that’s why they’ve been so active for the past 20 years by putting so much political and financial investment in my country. I feel that we have natural partners, strong partners here to help Georgia get this transformation right. What they’re supporting in the country is building a level playing ground for everyone in politics for the next election.
DC: So what’s next?
IA: What is coming up is the Bilateral Strategic Partnership Meeting on Democracy. Secretary Clinton will be visiting Georgia in early winter, so we’re looking forward that this dialogue will produce tangible results for the improvement of the election environment.
DC: Georgians remember the major political fraudulence of not too long ago. How can you convince people to believe a truly fairer system is possible?
IA: This is the fight for democratic changes. Georgia has been around for three millenniums and we survived a lot of difficulties throughout our history. This is one of the times that we need to come together, to cast away all doubts and start working to make democracy really work. We cannot rely on the foreign aid; we cannot rely on some other forces doing our job for us. When I’m addressing the people in Georgia, I’m telling them “You should come to vote, you should be ready to make changes yourself in the next parliamentary election.” [The sense] that I’m getting from the people is that they want to have a change through the peaceful democratic system, which they lacked for 20 years.
DC: Now that billionaire Boris Ivanishvili, who once supported President Saakashvili, has announced his entry into politics,how will this shake up the system?
IA: This is one of the richest Georgians who was supporting Georgia’s institution building through helping Georgian government – Saakashvili’s government – through contributions. He contributed... to Georgia’s reform of police and reform of defense, but he got critical of Saakashvili, and he wants to now contribute with his own participation to have a competitive election next time. This is the power that will help Georgia to really change the environment and political monopoly of a power of Saakashvili into a monopoly of people over the governments through participations in the elections. People should own the governments, not the person in the government should own the people. That’s the difference in philosophy that we have with Saakashvili.
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A Conversation With Irakli Alasania
December 11, 2011
Mr. Alasania, who was the former Head of Government of Abkhazia, resigned from his position as Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations and formed the Our Georgia - Free Democrats Party in 2009. The opposition movement, which has gained significant traction since the party’s inception two years ago, has evolved in recent weeks after billionaire Boris Ivanishvili, who formerly supported President Saakashvili through handsome donations, decided to stop spending millions on a government he no longer supports, and take the political reigns into his own hands.
The Diplomatic Courier sat down with Mr. Alasania in Washington just after he met with politicians to discuss what’s important to his campaign success, Georgia’s NATO membership, and that imperious Russian neighbor.
***
Diplomatic Courier: In many ways, it has been the year of global uprisings. How are Georgia’s May protests different from those in the Arab world? Is an Arab Spring-like revolution possible in this country?
Irakli Alasania: What’s happening in the Arab world has a different context and a different history, and Georgia has its own history. [Over the past 8 years], it’s more progressive than it was before and Georgia has accomplished a lot in bringing in anti-corruption work and brining in the institutions that help civil service be established. Georgia has already, in its 20 years since regaining independence from the Soviet Union, gone through the revolutions; not one, but several times. And people now appreciate that we should learn and demonstrate how responsibly we can behave to make Georgia’s changes, not through the revolutions anymore, but through the democratic system. This kind of experience was never in the countries that just had revolutions.
DC: What components can be added to make a freer parliamentary election possible?
IA: First is media access. The televised media needs to give the chance to the opposition, and to the members of civil society, to be on the air and to really discuss the issues that are important to the public, [such as] agriculture, getting jobs back, health care, the education system that is broken in the country. How we can do this is to have the long-term monitoring for the elections of the media… which was the case for the local election for only a month; we want to extend this. [Second], we have to depoliticize police. They should not serve the incumbent party; they should be loyal to the law and not politicians. [Last] is fundraising abilities for the opposition; the better part of the businesses that tended to support and contribute money to the opposition were reprimanded by the tax police.
DC: The court system in the country is not in the best shape, and has perhaps even weakened over the past several years. What is on the reform agenda?
IA: The courts are unfortunately subordinate to the prosecutor general’s office in the country. In 2009 and 2010 the acquittal rate in the court was 0.1 percent. It means either that our prosecutors are incredibly brilliant or there is fundamentally something wrong with the system of justice. We have to liberate the courts and they should be independent. This will help also to build up the competitiveness and competitive environment in business, politics and the media.
DC: What are the current NATO efforts in the country and what is your party’s place within those efforts?
IA: My party’s foreign policy objective is to get Georgia embedded into the Atlantic community, and this is a national consensus among many parties in the country that, “our future is with you.” What would make Georgia closer to the European community is precisely building not only defense capabilities but [also] the democratic institutions. It will help us to demonstrate that Georgia is building the lasting institutions that will help the successful model of transformation.
DC: And Russia?
IA: Unfortunately I cannot be that hopeful for the democratic transition and changes in Russia. Russia is occupying almost 20 percent of Georgia’s land, but the world is not recognizing this reality, Georgia is not recognizing this reality, and we’re going to fight back to get our territories from the Russian troops. But the best way to do this is not the war; it’s to get Georgia [to be] a stronger democratic unit [and to make] the economy healthier. The best self defense for Georgia is truly building the democratic state and giving more ammunition to our friends in the United States and Europe to push harder for Russia’s de-occupation of Georgia.
Having said that, Russia is a neighbor of Georgia and it’s a big nuclear country, so Georgia’s policy towards Russia should be pragmatic. And we are pragmatically interested in opening up the trade relationship with Russia; this is why we supported that WTO membership for the Russian Federation. I want the Georgian businesses to have the same opportunities in Russian markets that Russia has in Georgia. The prime minister or national security advisor bluntly advised the Georgian businesses not to seek any opportunities in Russia, and I was surprised, because we need to get those opportunities back. I think Russia is a big market for Georgian agriculture, wine, and other products and we have to explore these possibilities.
DC: What are the key election issues you are focusing on for the campaign?
IA: Education and unemployment [are] skyrocketing because of neglect of agriculture, which was employing 55 percent of Georgia’s labor force. Now, almost two out of three Georgians are unemployed. We are also advocating support for medium- and small-sized businesses. The opportunities are so low in Georgia for medium- and small-size businesses because of the overwhelming monopolies in the Georgian business, and there should be a very clear anti-monopoly system built.
DC: How is the country different from other former Soviet states?
IA: With no disrespect to any other [former] Soviet republic - and we have a very good relationship with everyone in the region except Russia so far - I believe that Georgia is a very modern nation with a rich history. The modernization happened really fast for the past 15 years, and I think there’s a lot of capacity and potential to build, faster than others, the truly democratic institutions. We have the work force that is more progressive, we have a young generation that is educated in the Western countries and now eager to build a new modern Georgia. And I think the geopolitical place and geographical place gives us the opportunity to be the key country in the region, because all the major routes, for example energy transportation, are going through Georgia. If we want to get central Asian and other energy resources to the West, Georgia is a natural place to go through.
DC: You have met with some key people, such as John McCain and others this week in Washington. Did these meetings pick up where you left off after speaking with Joe Biden in 2009?
IA: The American government, senators and Congress people are true friends of Georgia, not the friends of sub-politicians. They support the institution building; that’s why they’ve been so active for the past 20 years by putting so much political and financial investment in my country. I feel that we have natural partners, strong partners here to help Georgia get this transformation right. What they’re supporting in the country is building a level playing ground for everyone in politics for the next election.
DC: So what’s next?
IA: What is coming up is the Bilateral Strategic Partnership Meeting on Democracy. Secretary Clinton will be visiting Georgia in early winter, so we’re looking forward that this dialogue will produce tangible results for the improvement of the election environment.
DC: Georgians remember the major political fraudulence of not too long ago. How can you convince people to believe a truly fairer system is possible?
IA: This is the fight for democratic changes. Georgia has been around for three millenniums and we survived a lot of difficulties throughout our history. This is one of the times that we need to come together, to cast away all doubts and start working to make democracy really work. We cannot rely on the foreign aid; we cannot rely on some other forces doing our job for us. When I’m addressing the people in Georgia, I’m telling them “You should come to vote, you should be ready to make changes yourself in the next parliamentary election.” [The sense] that I’m getting from the people is that they want to have a change through the peaceful democratic system, which they lacked for 20 years.
DC: Now that billionaire Boris Ivanishvili, who once supported President Saakashvili, has announced his entry into politics,how will this shake up the system?
IA: This is one of the richest Georgians who was supporting Georgia’s institution building through helping Georgian government – Saakashvili’s government – through contributions. He contributed... to Georgia’s reform of police and reform of defense, but he got critical of Saakashvili, and he wants to now contribute with his own participation to have a competitive election next time. This is the power that will help Georgia to really change the environment and political monopoly of a power of Saakashvili into a monopoly of people over the governments through participations in the elections. People should own the governments, not the person in the government should own the people. That’s the difference in philosophy that we have with Saakashvili.
