Dispute over Georgian secrets

By Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK

 

The Georgian and Armenian foreign ministers have signed an agreement on exchange and bilateral protection of secret information during the recent visit of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Tbilisi. The agreement is confidential. In any case, any efforts by journalists to find the document or learn what secrets the countries plan to exchange have been fruitless.

Secrecy has only caused more curiosity. What makes the whole story so unusual is the neglect of the opposition’s reaction. Georgian ex-Minister for Defense Bachan Akhalaya, serving time in jail for grave crimes, sent urgent letters to all the information agencies and called the agreement treacherous. In his opinion, “NATO would close its doors to Georgia” and the country would lose its chance to join the Alliance or at least get a road map.

 

Nugzar Tsiklauri, an MP of the United National Movement (opposition), noted: “NATO does not restrict Georgia in its right to have confidential relations with neighbours. But when it is exchange of secret information, natural questions arise. Armenia is considered a strategic military and political ally of Russia in the Caucasus Region. The CSTO is “an opponent” of NATO. I think that the overlap of the topic of information exchange in the context of the renewal of negotiations on reviving the railway through Abkhazia is not a coincidence.

Thus, the foreign policy of Georgia under the current government is becoming less predictable. On the one hand, the EU Association Agreement is being signed, on the other, such agreements are signed, and the true head of the government, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, says that he wants to take an example from the complementary policy of Yerevan.

This is simply the infantilism of people who cannot understand what is going on around. It is impossible to have good relations with everyone. Eventually, you will ruin relations with everyone that way.”

 

Iosif Tsintsadze, the rector of the Diplomatic Academy, supposes: “At first glance, it is a narrowly professional issue. There are the first, second, third and fourth categories of secrecy. We are unaware what exactly the foreign ministers of Georgia and Armenia signed. But we need to bear in mind that secret information of any category passed to Armenia will immediately be transmitted to its allies. First of all, this is Russia. On the other hand, everything Armenia passes to us will be spread around our allies. First of all, the U.S. and other NATO countries.

Considering the well-known and “on-the-surface” circumstances, I cannot understand the need for either Georgia or Armenia to sign such an agreement.

We certainly need to support trade-economic and cultural ties with Armenia, but why would our government suddenly decide to lift the benchmark to a position as high as exchange of secret information? It is like imagining a NATO member, Holland or Belgium, for example, suddenly signing a similar agreement on exchange of information with, let’s say the Czech Republic or Bulgaria, which were members of the Warsaw Pact, in the 1970s. This is nonsense even in theory. We want to join NATO, but Armenia is part of the Collective Security Treaty led by Russia.

To be more realistic, Russia already knows all our secrets even without any agreements, and NATO knows a lot about Russian secrets. So there is nothing revolutionary here. Moreover, the fact that such an agreement was signed by the foreign ministers seems all the more odd. Only prime ministers and presidents are higher-ranking. It is peculiar, to say the least, that an ally of our opponent becomes trusted.

Besides, the agreement may cause mayor annoyance in Azerbaijan. People seem to ignore this and act as though the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh and the frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not exist.

At the least we may call this “diplomatic exoticism.” Have we already resolved all disputes with Armenia about possession of churches and so on and need to sign an agreement on exchange of secret information?”

According to Petre Mamradze, ex-head of the State Chancellery, “Saakashvili, Akhalaya and others of that ilk are trying to blame this for Georgia’s inability to join NATO. In reality, the doors to the North-Atlantic Alliance were closed to Georgia forever after the ex-president’s reckless military-political scheme in August 2008. U.S. ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in her memoirs that she had warned Saakashvili: if you start military actions, Georgia will not see NATO for at least two generations. President Obama has recently affirmed: Georgia does not stand on the path to NATO and we will not be accepted regardless of the atmosphere.”

Opposition outraged by signing of an agreement on exchange of secret information with ArmeniaBy Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VKThe Georgian and Armenian foreign ministers have signed an agreement on exchange and bilateral protection of secret information during the recent visit of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Tbilisi. The agreement is confidential. In any case, any efforts by journalists to find the document or learn what secrets the countries plan to exchange have been fruitless.Secrecy has only caused more curiosity. What makes the whole story so unusual is the neglect of the opposition’s reaction. Georgian ex-Minister for Defense Bachan Algal at a, serving time in jail for grave crimes, sent urgent letters to all the information agencies and called the agreement treacherous. In his opinion, “NATO would close its doors to Georgia” and the country would lose its chance to join the Alliance or at least get a road map.Nugzar Tsiklauri, an MP of the United National Movement (opposition), noted: “NATO does not restrict Georgia in its right to have confidential relations with neighbours. But when it is exchange of secret information, natural questions arise. Armenia is considered a strategic military and political ally of Russia in the Caucasus Region. The CSTO is “an opponent” of NATO. I think that the overlap of the topic of information exchange in the context of the renewal of negotiations on reviving the railway through Abkhazia is not a coincidence.Thus, the foreign policy of Georgia under the current government is becoming less predictable. On the one hand, the EU Association Agreement is being signed, on the other, such agreements are signed, and the true head of the government, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, says that he wants to take an example from the complementary policy of Yerevan.This is simply the infantilism of people who cannot understand what is going on around. It is impossible to have good relations with everyone. Eventually, you will ruin relations with everyone that way.”Iosif Tsintsadze, the rector of the Diplomatic Academy, supposes: “At first glance, it is a narrowly professional issue. There are the first, second, third and fourth categories of secrecy. We are unaware what exactly the foreign ministers of Georgia and Armenia signed. But we need to bear in mind that secret information of any category passed to Armenia will immediately be transmitted to its allies. First of all, this is Russia. On the other hand, everything Armenia passes to us will be spread around our allies. First of all, the U.S. and other NATO countries.Considering the well-known and “on-the-surface” circumstances, I cannot understand the need for either Georgia or Armenia to sign such an agreement.We certainly need to support trade-economic and cultural ties with Armenia, but why would our government suddenly decide to lift the benchmark to a position as high as exchange of secret information? It is like imagining a NATO member, Holland or Belgium, for example, suddenly signing a similar agreement on exchange of information with, let’s say the Czech Republic or Bulgaria, which were members of the Warsaw Pact, in the 1970s. This is nonsense even in theory. We want to join NATO, but Armenia is part of the Collective Security Treaty led by Russia.To be more realistic, Russia already knows all our secrets even without any agreements, and NATO knows a lot about Russian secrets. So there is nothing revolutionary here. Moreover, the fact that such an agreement was signed by the foreign ministers seems all the more odd. Only prime ministers and presidents are higher-ranking. It is peculiar, to say the least, that an ally of our opponent becomes trusted.Besides, the agreement may cause mayor annoyance in Azerbaijan. People seem to ignore this and act as though the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh and the frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not exist.At the least we may call this “diplomatic exoticism.” Have we already resolved all disputes with Armenia about possession of churches and so on and need to sign an agreement on exchange of secret information?”According to Petre Mamradze, ex-head of the State Chancellery, “Saakashvili, Akhalaya and others of that ilk are trying to blame this for Georgia’s inability to join NATO. In reality, the doors to the North-Atlantic Alliance were closed to Georgia forever after the ex-president’s reckless military-political scheme in August 2008. U.S. ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in her memoirs that she had warned Saakashvili: if you start military actions, Georgia will not see NATO for at least two generations. President Obama has recently affirmed: Georgia does not stand on the path to NATO and we will not be accepted regardless of the atmosphere