Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Georgian president calls for national unity in Independence Day spee

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Georgian president calls for national unity in Independence Day spee

    Georgian president calls for national unity in Independence Day speech

    Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
    26 May 04

    Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has used the occasion of the
    Independence Day parade to call on his people to "reclaim Georgia" by
    working together to achieve the country's unification. In his speech,
    which was broadcast live by the Georgian TV station Rustavi-2,
    Saakashvili said that "neither Georgia nor its president will
    ever accept a fragmented Georgia". He said the first step towards
    unification had been taken in Ajaria, and urged the peoples of
    the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to join in the
    process of agreeing the form of a single state. At the same time,
    he promised to respect their language rights and to take account of
    their interests. Saakashvili also bemoaned the fact that economic
    and political troubles had forced many Georgians to leave the country
    in recent years but promised that nevertheless all Georgians living
    abroad would be entitled to Georgian citizenship. The following is
    the text of Saakashvili's speech broadcast by Georgian TV station
    Rustavi-2 on 26 May. Subheadings inserted editorially:

    [Saakashvili] My fellow citizens, my fellow-fighters, soldiers of
    our nation. Four months ago, we presented ourselves to our nation for
    the first time and we took the oath that we would reclaim Georgia. We
    pledged that we would reclaim Georgia and replace the years of
    disappointment and alienation by a new feeling of hope and unity.

    We asked you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in order to restore
    legality and decency and create state institutions. On the day of
    my inauguration, I pledged that we would accomplish the hopes of
    our ancestors, the hopes of heroes who sacrificed their lives for
    the freedom of Georgia - today we are looking at the memorial of the
    300 Aragvians - , the hopes of these and other heroes of Georgia. We
    pledged that we would start the process of the unification of our
    great nation.

    Georgia on "right track"

    At that time, we asked you to trust us and to believe in better common
    future for us all. Today all of us can see that our belief has already
    produced the first results. Four months ago, there were more sceptics
    than believers, both here and abroad. Pessimists predicted that we
    would break our necks at the very first attempt. They were talking
    about an inevitable and rapid defeat. They did not think that anything
    could be fixed in Georgia. And yet, we are now standing before you,
    and it is impossible to deny this: Georgia is on the right track
    today. Our people are gathering new strength today. Our belief is not
    only not diminishing, our belief is getting stronger. Our belief is
    now based on concrete results.

    Today Georgia has a chance, as never before, to become the great
    state it once was. Georgia may become a state in which our children
    will be proud of their ancestry, their citizenship, their passports
    and a state which will be the object of the respect and admiration
    of its neighbours. We can already see the first signs that such a
    state is being established here.

    We started a real war against corruption and we have already won the
    first battles in this war. Untouchable people no longer exist at any
    level of the Georgian government. We have disarmed and neutralized
    several armed gangs. We have made serious progress in the formation of
    our armed forces. I want to say that today, as never before, trust in
    our armed forces is increasing. Here, together with us, is a resident
    of Tbilisi, Roland Nebieridze, who has five sons of draft age. Until
    now, none of them wanted to serve in the army because they did not
    trust the state. But now Batoni [Georgian polite form of referring
    to a man] has decided to send all five of his sons to the Georgian
    army. I call on all of us to greet them, here they are. [Applause]

    Relations with other countries

    We have achieved real and serious successes in the international arena.
    Georgia's severely damaged reputation has been fully restored. Georgia
    is a popular country all over the world, as never before in its
    history.

    We have established close relations with the United States of America
    and we remain its military ally in the fight against international
    terrorism. We have made a decision that our contingent in Iraq will
    be increased threefold. We should support our soldiers who will be
    going there voluntarily, so that we stand by our allies.

    We have significantly improved our relations with Russia. We have
    started a new phase of cooperation with Turkey, Azerbaijan and
    Armenia. For the first time, Georgia is referred to as a serious
    candidate for joining the European Union.

    "Reclaiming Georgia"

    What do I mean when I say that we should reclaim Georgia? We mean that
    all the changes should become irreversible. We mean that every Georgian
    family should feel the benefits of these changes. Who should reclaim
    Georgia? The answer to this question is in each of us. Reclaiming
    Georgia is the common task and common responsibility of every Georgian
    child and citizen. Reclaiming Georgia is the essence and purpose
    of all our lives. Reclaiming Georgia means its reunification. We
    have already made the first big step in this direction in Ajaria.
    Ajaria and Batumi [capital of Ajaria] are free today, and this is the
    accomplishment of every Ajarian, every Georgian who did not give up,
    who believed and who had faith in our freedom and our unification.

    When we are talking about Georgia's reunification, we should return
    to the main foundation of the Georgian nation - when two of our great
    rulers came to believe that in unity lies strength, when two great
    kings [of Georgia], Parnavaz and Kuji, stood together, and united
    Georgia. Georgia was created when leaders of its various regions put
    [the interests of] Georgia above their own interests. They sacrificed
    their egoistic interests and their own desire for power in order
    to create a strong and permanent unity in a peaceful way. In unity
    lies strength.

    Unlike an absolute majority of other countries, Georgia was not formed
    through conquest and the use of force. In reality, our nation, our
    unity and our culture are the result of human solidarity, harmony,
    tolerance and diversity among the natives of this land and their unique
    talents. Today, on our Independence Day, I again wish to draw on the
    wisdom of our ancestors. It is precisely by showing our respect for
    their principles of tolerance, brotherly love, self-sacrifice and
    human dignity that we shall reunite Georgia.

    Appeal to South Ossetia, Abkhazia

    I wish to confirm that neither Georgia nor its president will ever
    accept a fragmented Georgia. Until my last breath, I will not put
    up with a fragmented Georgia. That is why we offer our Abkhaz and
    Ossetian brothers to start immediate talks on the restoration of a
    single state. We are prepared to consider any state model that takes
    into account their interests and ensures their future development.

    I wish to address our Ossetian brothers, confirm my most profound
    respect for them and promise them that the Georgian state will always
    consider their interests, the interests of every Ossetian living in
    Georgia. I wish to address them - I am the first president of Georgia
    to do it - in their native Ossetian language. Its state language
    status will be guaranteed by the Georgian state, which will also create
    guarantees for its development and protection. These guarantees will
    be created for every inhabitant of Georgia, including every Ossetian
    living in Georgia. [says several phrases in Ossetian]

    I also wish to address the Abkhaz and again offer them to start talks
    on federal relations and broad guarantees, including international
    ones, for their autonomy. We offer a hand of friendship to the
    Abkhaz people, and I can now repeat it in Abkhaz. [says one sentence
    in Abkhaz]

    I wish to appeal to the entire Georgian nation to be tolerant. We
    should be able to see not only others' but also our own mistakes. We
    should be able to offer a hand to anyone who seeks friendship. Let
    us be tolerant but at the same time let us never again show our backs
    to the enemy, let us never again succumb to those who want to divide
    Georgia. [applause] There is no force in the world that can defeat a
    nation that wants to unite and fight for its motherland. We should
    all stand united, so that no-one will ever be able to intimidate us
    again, no-one will ever be able to sow doubts in our minds, no-one
    will ever be able to keep us in a permanent state of mourning,
    suffering and despondency.

    Appeal to diaspora

    When we speak about Georgian reunification, we should remember that one
    in five citizens of Georgia have left their motherland. These people
    were forced to flee by hardship, war, devastation and an unpromising
    future. The children of these people, who were born after they left,
    have never seen their motherland. Their return and the restoration of
    links with their motherland is one of our main and urgent historical
    tasks. The Constitution of Georgia gives the president of Georgia the
    power to grant Georgian citizenship to citizens of foreign countries
    proceeding from and based on Georgia's national interest. I appeal to
    our compatriots dispersed around the world, our flesh and blood. Guided
    by Georgia's interest, I have decided to grant Georgian citizenship
    to all Georgians living abroad regardless of their citizenship if
    they wish to have it and if they apply to us.

    We should all join together to reclaim our country. We should all
    return to our country, our Georgia. We should make sure that our
    children, our offspring return to Georgia. We should all join together
    to help our country get up on its feet and together deal with the
    challenges of the modern world.

    We have gone through a lot of suffering and torture. The main cause
    of that suffering was our alienation from each other. I ask you to
    unite because we are well aware of how much we can achieve by being
    united. We have enough perseverance, culture and intellect to change
    our everyday behaviour for the better, which will allow us not only to
    change our own lives through daily work but also transform Georgia and
    our way of life to a genuinely European state and genuinely European
    way of life. In order to find the strength to attain our cherished
    goals through daily work, we should realize that this strength lies
    in each of us and in our unique features that have saved us over the
    centuries and helped us survive to this day.

    We, together with the government, with our authorities, promise to
    discharge our duties honestly, with dignity and with due respect
    for every person. At the same time, we ask you to support each other
    and support all our good initiatives. Let every person be involved
    in the titanic work that will lead us to success. Georgia should be
    built up by the Georgians, by every single citizen. The government,
    the president or our army alone will not be able to build up
    Georgia. Georgia is to be built up by each of us, every citizen, every
    genuine patriot and everyone who loves their motherland. May God give
    us the perseverance and wisdom to do this. May St George lead us to new
    victories. I congratulate you on Georgian Independence Day. [applause]
Working...
X