The visit of Nicolas Sarkozy to Tbilisi began with a minor diplomatic misunderstanding: for unknown reasons, the President of France left Baku and arrived in Tbilisi an hour earlier than planned. During visits of heads of state, any moment can be a reason for speculations. The point is: why did Sarkozy leave Azerbaijan earlier, maybe it was connected with his statement in Yerevan on the genocide of Armenians?
Of course nobody will comment on this moment officially. However, diplomacy knows various way of expressing displeasure, and if there are no truthful explanations, journalists express their own suppositions. Changing the planned arrival caused confusion in Georgia. Saakashvili was almost late to greet Sarkozy at the airport. The traffic police began to block all the streets near the road from the airport to Tbilisi center. On the one hand, the police officers had to stop the traffic flow, on the other hand, they had to allow cars of officials heading to the airport to pass.
Fortunately, participants at the meeting on Freedom Square, where the presidents planned to speak, began gathering three hours ahead of the meeting, in order to pass through all the security control points. When the presidential cortege arrived on the square, there were more than 100,000 people waving EU, French and Georgian flags.
The speeches by the two presidents at this meeting were the only political event of the visit. Nothing else was planned, even official talks between the heads of state. However, Sarkozy made a statement at the meeting, which made his visit much more important than any other possible arrangements.
The speech by Mikhail Saakashvili was flashy as always: “In September 2008 about million Georgians formed a human chain on this square to stop Russian aggression. It wasn’t a protest only, but also striving for our European choice. I told you we won’t be alone, and notwithstanding tanks and missiles we’ll return to the family of free nations. Today we are not alone… The leader of the strongest European nation stands next to me to protect our independence.”
Sarkozy was more diplomatic, but his statements contained several serious reproaches to Russia too: “When I arrived in Tbilisi in 2008, you stood near the parliament building and protested against the offence caused to your country. Three years have passed, no shots are heard, but the war injuries haven’t healed. Thousands of your compatriots had to leave their homes. The war separated thousands of families. You lost a part of the country, which is hurt's like losing an arm.”
Then the spokesman shifted to an appraisal of the current situation in the conflict zone, hinting that Russia is breaking its duties: “Despite good sense and incurred obligations, the military forces of the other side remained. However, France doesn’t accept the results of those events. France and Europe continue supporting the independence and territorial integrity of Georgia. The Soviet Union sank into oblivion, and it cannot be replaced by the policy of influence zones.”
“If Georgia develops rapidly, Abkhazians and Ossetians will choose life near Georgian neighbors instead of isolation in enslaved pseudo-states,” Sarkozy foresaw. Nevertheless, he is a European politician and balanced separate political statements by general urging for peace: “Thousands of Georgians live in Russia, Moscow has the largest number of Georgians after Tbilisi. Your businessmen store capital in Moscow, many Russians come to Georgia. But for a revival of trust, threats should be forgotten, as well as provocations and destabilization efforts. Georgia has a right to express its aspiration for NATO, if the Georgian people want it.”
The President of France concluded his speech with a phrase, which has already been described as historic in Tbilisi: “Visiting Georgia, I feel I’m in Europe.”
Georgy Kalatozhishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK.
