“How can one not become friends with Georgians?”

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The political crisis in Georgia has made many local experts talk about an attempt at a possible new revolution in Georgia, organized by supporters of the former president Mikheil Saakashvili. In Russia the Georgian developments were observed sedately. “The resignations in the Georgian government change the government and it is important to understand how they will influence the policies of the Georgian authorities,” the deputy Foreign Ministry of Russia, Grigory Karasin, stated, noting that Moscow is following the staff reshuffle in the Georgian government.

A member of the Presidential Council on International Relations, Maxim Shevchenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza: “The problem is that if there were people in power in Georgia before who acted against Georgian interests, who placed Georgia in the Procrustean bed of European liberal civilization, neglecting the traditional customs of the Georgian people, neglecting relations with the Orthodox Church, the Patriarch and everything that is sacred and dear to all Georgians today, now there are real Georgians in power. Today, the Georgian government are 120% Georgians, as if from the movie "Do Not Cry" and from another great Georgian film "Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird". Being good people, they are getting rid of the consequences of Saakashvili's regime in Georgia, particularly through criminal proceedings against important people in his regime, including Saakashvili as well, and such people as Merabishvili, etc. By doing so they are recreating the traditional space in Georgia. The Georgians, who are very nice people, who know how to behave during meals, who are religious, who can find common ground in political and human relations, are always going through a crisis”.

According to Shevchenko, “the Georgian state has very little experience of statehood. Therefore, it seems to me that a crisis will be inevitable. A certain devaluation of trust in the authorities in Georgia will take place.”

“It was impossible not to put [the former head of the Interior Ministry of Georgia Vano] Merabishvili behind bars for what he did with the prisons and for his political murders. It was impossible not to arrest [the former Defense Minister Bacho] Akhalaia. It was impossible not to deal with Saakashvili's criminals. But for the Georgian population it means that the previous government was yet another corrupt government… This forces the current government of Garibashvili to act softly, and soft power in Georgia means a return to the traditional forms of relations in Georgia, which Saakashvili worked very hard (to his credit) to eradicate. Naturally, there is corruption, relations between people start to influence state economics,” Shevchenko thinks.

Speaking about the peculiarities of Georgian politics, the expert stated: “Georgian politics is carried out in Tbilisi. The moving of the parliament to Kutaisi was a formality. In order to solve a problem, they travel from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, where they sit in restaurants and cafes and discuss and resolve all their important issues. The people of Tbilisi are a particular political nation, which consists of all the peoples of Georgia: Mengrels, Svans, Armenians and Azerbaijanis…”

At the same time, Shevchenko believes that Russian-Georgian relations have definitely reached a completely new level: “There are regular friendly meetings between Yevgeny Karasin and Zurab Abashidze. How can one not become friends with Georgians? Real Georgians and not European mutants like the people in Saakashvili's government were? That's absurd. You begin to like everything in these people: their manners, their ethics of relations, their way of discussing complex issues. The question is whether they have the real power in Georgia.”