Were Syrian fighters invited to Georgia?

The message of Foreign Policy, about the readiness of Georgia to invite "Syrian insurgents" for training at military bases, caused a juicy scandal in Tbilisi. The discrepancy of the situation and intensity of emotions is aggravated by the impossibility of answering simple questions. For example, Foreign Policy refers to certain "high-ranking sources" in the administration of the U.S. President, and they, in turn, claim that the offer to prepare the fighters who are at war against Bashar al-Assad's regime proceeded from the Georgian side in the special training centers. However, it isn't specified who exactly in this case represented the Georgian side.Soon, all potential representatives - the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Council, leaders of the ruling party - began to refuse and categorically to deny the existence of such plans, not to mention any specific proposal. But there is one discordant note in this symphony of "a categorical denial" - the semantic shade of difference between official statements by other departments is audible - the Ministry of Defence declared that Georgia is really ready to cooperate with the USA in the fight against terrorism, but "doesn't consider the option of sending Georgian military personnel to Syria".So after all, nobody claimed that Georgia plans to send a military contingent for war against "Islamic State". It was a question of preparing "Syrian insurgents" at Georgian training centers.By the way, mention of "training centers" leads us to the last decisions of NATO and the "gold card" which Georgia received from North Atlantic alliance instead of the "road map" for membership of NATO. "The package of special cooperation" between Georgia and alliance, also provides for a training center for military preparations. Probably this center will be opened on the basis of two already-existing bases - the Sachkhersky base for training firing shells and the Krtsanissky national center, where American instructors have been training Georgian "commandos" for a long time to solve the tasks in Afghanistan.Why can't these bases be used for training "Syrian insurgents"?Especially as the U.S. President during one of his last appearances directly announced the plans of Washington, to prepare "fighters for democracy and against the dictatorship of Assad" by means of the allies in the region. Therefore the offer which has arrived from Georgian Minister of Defence Irakli Alasania who, apparently, sounded this idea during a recent visit by US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, could hardly surprise the Americans. During a joint press conference with the American guest, Alasania said that Georgia is ready to make a contribution to fight against "IS". Concrete steps in this direction, including training of a "moderate part of the Syrian insurgents" could be discussed already behind closed doors, and the Georgian party, as has often happened, obviously didn't expect the Americans to make the offer public through FP.The emphasis on training "fighters against the terrorists of IS" became at once the main argument of everyone who is ready to witness or justify such an extravagant initiative. "We will train only those who are at war against IS." But after all, this is a question about fighters today fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad.Immediately in the Tbilisi press there were articles with thoughts about the risks and challenges facing the country "in case of the arrival in Georgia of hundreds, maybe thousands of bandits who are ready for anything and don't submit to any discipline." As the observer of the weekly newspaper "Premier" Mikhail Getsadze writes, "it's one matter to train military personnel and absolutely another matter to train fighters from an ill-matched and unclear crowd."Tbilisi didn't immediately notice the main contradiction in these plans. The political scientist Iosif Tsintsadze said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza that by inviting fighters of the Syrian opposition for training, Georgia thereby declares war not on Bashar Assad, but on Russia. "It is obvious that Moscow supports Assad and even sent a powerful fleet to the Syrian coast which, according to some information, takes part in fighting operations on protection of air space," Tsintsadze reminded. He also expressed bewilderment about the inconsistency of the Georgian government: "On the one hand, the authorities refuse to adopt a rigid resolution on Ukraine and one Georgian minister didn't visit Kiev so as not to irritate Moscow. At the same time, they invite sworn enemies of Russia to the country for training. Is this not absurdity?" the expert asked a rhetorical question.However, judging by the stormy reaction in a society frightened by the prospect of a stream of "uncontrolled bandits", and also by the emotional denials of leaders of the ruling "Georgian Dream" coalition, no "stream" will exist, and the idea of "training fighters of the armed opposition" remains an unrealized initiative of one of Georgia's politicians.

The message of Foreign Policy, about the readiness of Georgia to invite "Syrian insurgents" for training at military bases, caused a juicy scandal in Tbilisi. The discrepancy of the situation and intensity of emotions is aggravated by the impossibility of answering simple questions. For example, Foreign Policy refers to certain "high-ranking sources" in the administration of the U.S. President, and they, in turn, claim that the offer to prepare the fighters who are at war against Bashar al-Assad's regime proceeded from the Georgian side in the special training centers. However, it isn't specified who exactly in this case represented the Georgian side.

Soon, all potential representatives - the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Security Council, leaders of the ruling party - began to refuse and categorically to deny the existence of such plans, not to mention any specific proposal. But there is one discordant note in this symphony of "a categorical denial" - the semantic shade of difference between official statements by other departments is audible - the Ministry of Defence declared that Georgia is really ready to cooperate with the USA in the fight against terrorism, but "doesn't consider the option of sending Georgian military personnel to Syria".
So after all, nobody claimed that Georgia plans to send a military contingent for war against "Islamic State". It was a question of preparing "Syrian insurgents" at Georgian training centers.

By the way, mention of "training centers" leads us to the last decisions of NATO and the "gold card" which Georgia received from North Atlantic alliance instead of the "road map" for membership of NATO. "The package of special cooperation" between Georgia and alliance, also provides for a training center for military preparations. Probably this center will be opened on the basis of two already-existing bases - the Sachkhersky base for training firing shells and the Krtsanissky national center, where American instructors have been training Georgian "commandos" for a long time to solve the tasks in Afghanistan.

Why can't these bases be used for training "Syrian insurgents"? Especially as the U.S. President during one of his last appearances directly announced the plans of Washington, to prepare "fighters for democracy and against the dictatorship of Assad" by means of the allies in the region. Therefore the offer which has arrived from Georgian Minister of Defence Irakli Alasania who, apparently, sounded this idea during a recent visit by US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, could hardly surprise the Americans. During a joint press conference with the American guest, Alasania said that Georgia is ready to make a contribution to fight against "IS". Concrete steps in this direction, including training of a "moderate part of the Syrian insurgents" could be discussed already behind closed doors, and the Georgian party, as has often happened, obviously didn't expect the Americans to make the offer public through FP.

The emphasis on training "fighters against the terrorists of IS" became at once the main argument of everyone who is ready to witness or justify such an extravagant initiative. "We will train only those who are at war against IS." But after all, this is a question about fighters today fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Immediately in the Tbilisi press there were articles with thoughts about the risks and challenges facing the country "in case of the arrival in Georgia of hundreds, maybe thousands of bandits who are ready for anything and don't submit to any discipline." As the observer of the weekly newspaper "Premier" Mikhail Getsadze writes, "it's one matter to train military personnel and absolutely another matter to train fighters from an ill-matched and unclear crowd."

Tbilisi didn't immediately notice the main contradiction in these plans. The political scientist Iosif Tsintsadze said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza that by inviting fighters of the Syrian opposition for training, Georgia thereby declares war not on Bashar Assad, but on Russia. "It is obvious that Moscow supports Assad and even sent a powerful fleet to the Syrian coast which, according to some information, takes part in fighting operations on protection of air space," Tsintsadze reminded. He also expressed bewilderment about the inconsistency of the Georgian government: "On the one hand, the authorities refuse to adopt a rigid resolution on Ukraine and one Georgian minister didn't visit Kiev so as not to irritate Moscow. At the same time, they invite sworn enemies of Russia to the country for training. Is this not absurdity?" the expert asked a rhetorical question.

However, judging by the stormy reaction in a society frightened by the prospect of a stream of "uncontrolled bandits", and also by the emotional denials of leaders of the ruling "Georgian Dream" coalition, no "stream" will exist, and the idea of "training fighters of the armed opposition" remains an unrealized initiative of one of Georgia's politicians.