> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:07:45 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Genevieve <> Subject: Georgian politics heat up
> To: bruce
>
> Okruashvili Breaks Silence by Lashing Out at Saakashvili
Irakli Okruashvili, ex-defense minister and once President Saakashvili’s closest ally, accused the President of "anti-state steps" and "ordering murders."
In his first public statement since he quit the government last November, Okruashvili announced about launch of his political party – Movement for United Georgia. He declined to take question after his ten-minute long speech, but said he planned to speak in details and "answer all the questions" during his TV appearances planned for later on Tuesday.
"I will defiantly speak out more about all of the crimes, which were masterminded by the authorities," he said. Okruashvili added: "I was ordered by Saakashvili for several times to liquidate certain influential and important persons, which I have never done." He did not elaborate further about the issue.
Speculations about Okruashvili planning new opposition party have been circulating for a long time already and many commentators expected, what they called, "a war of compromising materials" in case of Okruashvili’s political comeback.
Okruashvili told the news conference in his party headquarters in downtown Tbilisi that "fascist trends" and "anti-state steps undertaken by the authorities" made him and his co-thinkers to launch the new movement. But he also hinted that it was not easy launch the party.
People, he said, "are terrorized" as a result of "repressions." "Those with dissent opinion are declared as ‘anomies of state’ and the government is refusing to hold a dialogue with them."
Because of this, he said, it was not easy to convince people to launch public activities.
Okruashvili said that fight against corruption "unreal." Prisons, he said, were full of petty criminals, while corruption continued to thrive among "top level officials, Saakashvili’s inner circle and his family."
"Three years ago when I held the position of Interior Minister," Okruashvili said, "I arrested Temur Alasania, the President’s uncle, for extortion of USD 200,000. I, however, had to release him after the President’s insistent demand."
He also accused the authorities, and personally Saakashvili of, as he put it, "a deliberate anti-Orthodox Church campaign" and "fight against the Georgian traditions and values."
"Saakashvili has inner hatred towards the Georgian Orthodox Church," Okruashvili said. "The Georgian church is the most respected institution in Georgia. He [Saakashvili] perceives the Church as his major competitor. While being in his inner circle, I have often heard him voicing ideas about splitting the Church and about discrediting the clergy."
He also said that there was "a clear attempt" by the Saakashvili’s administration "to re-write the Georgia’s history, as if nothing Georgian existed before the Rose Revolution and everything new is being created by Saakashvili."
Okruashvili also made an obvious attempt to appeal to other walks of life by saying that older generation, those over 50, were "neglected and humiliated."
Internally displaced persons from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said, "were not regarded as human beings during the ex-President Shevardnadze’s regime and this trend continue in the Saakashvili’s regime as well."
He also criticized the authorities’ policy towards the secessionist regions.
"We have been one step away from reclaiming one of our lost territories," Okruashvili said, apparently referring to South Ossetia.
Several months before his resignation from the cabinet, Okruashvili said that he planned to celebrate 2007 New Year in Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia. Commentators said that Saakashvili’s decision to reshuffle Okruashvili last November from the defense minister’s position to the ministry of economy was largely triggered by Okruashvili’s hawkish stance towards South Ossetia.
In his speech on September 25, Okruashvili said that "only Saakashvili’s weakness, inability and fear" foiled plans to reclaim secessionist region. He also said Saakashvili was too weak to take unspecified "historic decision."
He also criticized Tbilisi’s decision to create its loyal provisional South Ossetia administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev. Okruashvili described Sanakoev as a person who has no respect and authority among the population of the region. He also said that installing Sanakoev was "an imaginary attempt" to unite the country.
Okruashvili said that his decision to quit the government "quietly" without speaking out his discontent was triggered by, as he put it, his "civil responsibility."
"Army officers, who are still my friends, asked me to do it quietly," he said and added that by doing so he did not give the country’s enemies a reason to speculate about split within the government.
Okruashvili said that he shared "the responsibility for some mistakes because I also once was part of this government."
"I, however, have done nothing but good for my country while being in the government," he added. "So any attempt to discredit me will fail."
In the end of his speech he made a statement suggesting that he might have a presidential ambition,
"Georgia will be united only if it has a president, who will not humiliate and insult its own people," Okruashvili said.
Throughout his speech, Okruashvili fellow party members, stood beside him. They involve: lawmakers Tea Tlashadze, Ketevan Makharashvili, Koka Guntsadze, Gia Tortladze and Gia Tsagareishvili; former deputy defense minister, Levan Nikolaishvili and an attorney lowyer, Eka Beselia.
Former journalists from the Rustavi 2 TV station Nana Lezhava and Natia Lazashvili were also there. Both of them quit the TV station shortly after the Rustavi 2 changed hands last November following Okruashvili’s decision to quit the government.
Civil Georgia
2007.09.25 18:25
