Press Scanner
Compiled by Messenger Staff
Friday, June 25
Okruashvili, Burjanadze and Noghaideli want revenge
David Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights, states in an interview with Kvela Siakhle, "Unfortunately neither the public the experts nor the media turned out to be ready for the beginning of political integration in Georgia. The New Rights' and Republicans' attempt to establish a big political union was seen as a weakness. It was regarded as us trying to improve our chances on the back of others. We were regarded as wanting to live on Alasania’s popularity, but in fact we were happy to act independently.
"We expressed our position and goodwill by putting aside our personal and party ambitions to clear the way for young leaders. We tried until the end to create a European-type party on the basis of the Alliance. Unfortunately, the public, media and experts did not help us. The dissolution of the Alliance turned out to be more acceptable for them. The members of the Alliance felt that the idea that some were trying to be successful on someone else's back had been planted in the public mind by certain individuals and media outlets, but I suppose the Government also propagated such views," David Gamkrelidze says.
"I do not know anything about the Munich meeting and am not much interested in it. Those with revanchist sentiments have demonstrated that they care more for their own interests than the country's. Okruashvili, Burjanadze and Noghaideli act out of revenge. They will take any liberty in order to regain power. I do not have anything in common with them and do not intend to unite with anyone in the foreseeable future, especially Noghaideli and Okruashvili," David Gamkrelidze states.
Asked to comment on the fact that he had devised the opposition unity formula ‘everyone minus one’, the one being Noghaideli, but Noghaideli said after the elections that the opposition had gained nothing by trying to exclude anyone, Gamkrelidze says, "I do not intend to comment on the statements of Noghaideli. Such categories of people always try to shift the blame for their actions onto others. I heard Burjanadze, Noghaideli and Okruashvili's accusation that the Alliance was prolonging the Saakashvili regime. Those people once had the highest posts in Saakashvili’s Government and thus they are the ones who have prolonged the present Government’s rule. Nino Burjanadze was the one who legitimised the Presidential elections of 2008. Noghaideli was the one who declared the State of Emergency on November 7 2007 and conducted a criminal policy at the same time. Okruashvili established the practices of arrest, threat and abuse. He was the ideologist of Saakashvili’s violence. We can neither join them nor accept their criticisms.
"We do not support revanchism. We want to achieve real change via the lawful way. Our defeat does not mean that we will conduct a revolution because we lost. We will do our best to ensure that such a thing never happens again in this country," Gamkrelidze concludes.
Burjanadze denies suggested ties with criminals
Rezonansi writes that Nino Burjanadze is lucky not to be living in the Europe of the Middle Ages, because she would have had her head chopped off for seeking justice like Mary Queen of Scots. The agitation about her Moscow visit and meeting with Putin has not yet calmed down but now another scandal about her has emerged. German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau has accused an unnamed Georgian opposition leader of plotting a revolution, citing an Austrian police report. Burjanadze is not in Georgia now and is demanding that the Austrian police and the German publication publish the full text of this report.
Frankfurter Rundschau said that the Georgian mafia had plotted a revolution in Georgia and published quotations from an Austrian Criminal Police report which said that influential crime figures were involved in organising the April 2009 street actions against Saakashvili. The 66-page report said that Georgian criminals living abroad had been attempting to overthrow the democratic Government of Georgia with the help of corrupt officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It also suggested that there are links between the Georgian opposition and crime boss Lasha Shushanashvili, as they have certain common interests and have confirmed contacting former security chief Igor Giorgadze.(Now wanted in Georgia).
David Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights, states in an interview with Kvela Siakhle, "Unfortunately neither the public the experts nor the media turned out to be ready for the beginning of political integration in Georgia. The New Rights' and Republicans' attempt to establish a big political union was seen as a weakness. It was regarded as us trying to improve our chances on the back of others. We were regarded as wanting to live on Alasania’s popularity, but in fact we were happy to act independently.
"We expressed our position and goodwill by putting aside our personal and party ambitions to clear the way for young leaders. We tried until the end to create a European-type party on the basis of the Alliance. Unfortunately, the public, media and experts did not help us. The dissolution of the Alliance turned out to be more acceptable for them. The members of the Alliance felt that the idea that some were trying to be successful on someone else's back had been planted in the public mind by certain individuals and media outlets, but I suppose the Government also propagated such views," David Gamkrelidze says.
"I do not know anything about the Munich meeting and am not much interested in it. Those with revanchist sentiments have demonstrated that they care more for their own interests than the country's. Okruashvili, Burjanadze and Noghaideli act out of revenge. They will take any liberty in order to regain power. I do not have anything in common with them and do not intend to unite with anyone in the foreseeable future, especially Noghaideli and Okruashvili," David Gamkrelidze states.
Asked to comment on the fact that he had devised the opposition unity formula ‘everyone minus one’, the one being Noghaideli, but Noghaideli said after the elections that the opposition had gained nothing by trying to exclude anyone, Gamkrelidze says, "I do not intend to comment on the statements of Noghaideli. Such categories of people always try to shift the blame for their actions onto others. I heard Burjanadze, Noghaideli and Okruashvili's accusation that the Alliance was prolonging the Saakashvili regime. Those people once had the highest posts in Saakashvili’s Government and thus they are the ones who have prolonged the present Government’s rule. Nino Burjanadze was the one who legitimised the Presidential elections of 2008. Noghaideli was the one who declared the State of Emergency on November 7 2007 and conducted a criminal policy at the same time. Okruashvili established the practices of arrest, threat and abuse. He was the ideologist of Saakashvili’s violence. We can neither join them nor accept their criticisms.
"We do not support revanchism. We want to achieve real change via the lawful way. Our defeat does not mean that we will conduct a revolution because we lost. We will do our best to ensure that such a thing never happens again in this country," Gamkrelidze concludes.
Burjanadze denies suggested ties with criminals
Rezonansi writes that Nino Burjanadze is lucky not to be living in the Europe of the Middle Ages, because she would have had her head chopped off for seeking justice like Mary Queen of Scots. The agitation about her Moscow visit and meeting with Putin has not yet calmed down but now another scandal about her has emerged. German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau has accused an unnamed Georgian opposition leader of plotting a revolution, citing an Austrian police report. Burjanadze is not in Georgia now and is demanding that the Austrian police and the German publication publish the full text of this report.
Frankfurter Rundschau said that the Georgian mafia had plotted a revolution in Georgia and published quotations from an Austrian Criminal Police report which said that influential crime figures were involved in organising the April 2009 street actions against Saakashvili. The 66-page report said that Georgian criminals living abroad had been attempting to overthrow the democratic Government of Georgia with the help of corrupt officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It also suggested that there are links between the Georgian opposition and crime boss Lasha Shushanashvili, as they have certain common interests and have confirmed contacting former security chief Igor Giorgadze.(Now wanted in Georgia).