“On October 4, we have the opportunity to demonstrate once again that our struggle today is about going to the polling stations, making a free choice, and safeguarding peace and stability,” the statement by Bidzina Ivanishvili, Honorary Chairman of the Georgian Dream, reads.
As Ivanishvili notes in his statement, another test awaits Georgia on October 4 in terms of defending the achievements and gains of recent years.
“Thirteen years have passed since the most significant victory in independent Georgia’s history.
October 1 has become a symbol of unity, dignity, and the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, for contemporary Georgia.
October 1, 2012, occupies a distinguished place alongside the remarkable victories achieved throughout Georgia’s centuries-long history, because this day became the most important watershed in our country’s recent history, its 35 years of independence, between, on one hand, authoritarianism, subservience to foreign interests, fear and terror, and on the other, democracy, loyalty to national sovereignty and freedom!
This day does not belong to specific individuals or any political party; the true creator of October 1 is the Georgian people, who remain faithful to the precepts of our ancestors, to our traditions and Christian values, and who have never bowed their heads to enemies, whether internal or external!
The Georgian people possess one particular quality that we have developed throughout our centuries-long history of struggle. At crucial moments for the nation, when the threat of destruction becomes genuinely real, we always choose the right side. We consistently distinguish between black and white, standing where freedom, justice, mutual respect, love, dignity, and independence are treasured.
October 1, 2012, was founded precisely on these ideals and became the inevitable conclusion of the struggle that I personally, Georgian Dream, and the glorious Georgian people began in 2011 against internal enemies subservient to foreign powers.
Thirteen years is indeed a long time, yet the ideals of October 1, 2012, have not vanished, and these values remain the principal foundation of our team’s actions. The best judge of this remains the wise Georgian people, who today, as in 2012, give us the right to represent them, people whom no one can deceive with lies, propaganda or promises!
Since that historic victory, we have worked together to attain greater prosperity, wealth, and economic stability, gradually progressing towards true independence and firm sovereignty. However, the main obstacle on this path has been forces fostering radicalism, mutual confrontation, and artificial discord; forces that, this time, under the guise of opposition, are fighting against their own people and country, aiming to return us to the past and stagnation, and to subservience to foreign interests.
Despite their attempts, we have achieved tangible results. Setting aside propaganda and harsh rhetoric, it is clear, even to the untrained eye, that since gaining independence, the Georgian Dream government has been the only ruling force to maintain uninterrupted peace. At the same time, there is not a single area in which the situation has not been fundamentally improved since 2012. This is confirmed by numerous international rankings, studies based on objective criteria, and, most importantly, by the Georgian people themselves, who continue to trust us and have entrusted us with the mandate to govern the country!
The past 13 years are the logical continuation of our centuries-long existence. In 2012, we not only survived but triumphed; however, if we do not protect the freedom we have gained, we shall lose everything we have built over so many years! Georgia’s history is precisely this, a continuous struggle that, at different times, has manifested as self-sacrifice for survival, the pursuit of independence, the formation of an accountable state, and the preservation of homeland, language, and faith: the key defining elements of Georgian identity. Today, we continue to fight, though against transformed enemies and challenges; our battle line is now drawn in defence of peace and stability, which remain the only path towards development, a brighter future, and a united Georgia.
We must clearly understand that today we are once again crossing a razor’s edge and cannot afford to slip. We must recognise that the ongoing struggle for sovereignty and independence demands constant vigilance.
Naturally, there have been mistakes over these 13 years, but, fortunately, none of such magnitude as to threaten our sovereignty or physical existence, nor of a nature that their correction or removal would be impossible.
For me personally, the most grievous thing is that during these years there was also an insidious betrayal within our team, which not only placed Georgian Dream before a crisis but created a real danger of deviation from the trajectory of development, of the return to power of forces subservient to foreign interests for the Georgian people and our country. In the past, some members of our team chose to prioritise subservience to influential foreign powers or personal comfort over the interests of our citizens, believing it would bring them great benefit. As a result, they set aside the welfare of the team and the country. However, we endured this, too! Since 2011, the support of Georgian society and our wise people has sustained and continues to sustain me, reinforcing my belief that we can overcome any difficulty.
Indeed, it was through constant vigilance, standing for the truth and continually working to strengthen sovereignty, that we exposed all traitors and compelled internal enemies to recognise that their actions are driven not by national interests, but by foreign ones. Specific foreign powers hiding behind the mask of friend and partner have been forced openly to admit that they demand our subservience to their interests!
Precisely for this reason, pressure and blackmail against our country and people have intensified, taking various forms. Naturally, against the backdrop of external challenges and the destructive wars unfolding in the region, attacks on our sovereignty are becoming more and more frequent and increasingly fierce. However, specific powers are now obliged to do this not through internal enemies, as they did for years, but through external ones.
Against this backdrop, their supporting agents operating within the country, who are widely dispersed across opposition parties and the so-called non-governmental sector, initially appear to have been weakened. However, we must clearly understand what forces are attempting to subordinate our country to their own interests. For them, it poses no difficulty at all to replace one familiar face with another, one party with another, or even one television channel with another, to deceive our citizens. They may introduce new foreign politicians, acting against Georgia, so-called influential experts, to replace similar-ranking individuals already exposed for their lies. However, they fail to understand that they can no longer deceive us. Today, our society attentively listens to ideas and thoughts, draws logical conclusions through analysis, and, most importantly, for the Georgian people, authority is not defined by specific names, titles, credentials, or artificially constructed influential politicians, but by the truth.
And yet, Georgian Dream’s main achievement over the past 13 years is that our team has learnt the ability to assess events and facts correctly. Moreover, a tremendous achievement is that society has matured alongside us and itself manages excellently to conduct proper analysis, so that everything is called by its true name. Together with the Georgian people, we have successfully neutralised the main weapon adopted by the previous government from its foreign masters, to present light as dark, construction as destruction, and good as evil. Together with society, we have successfully neutralised the convoluted pseudo-liberal ideology that presented a criminal regime as a beacon of democracy, whilst calling a genuinely democratic government a dictatorship. Today, we are no longer impeded in our ability to discern clearly who is a friend and who is a foe. We have thoroughly analysed that not a single foreign power seeks to assist us; instead, each is driven by its own interests and ambitions.
Naturally, we do not refuse partnership with anyone; however, this must not occur at the expense of weakening our country’s sovereignty and exploiting Georgia. We firmly believe that partnership and friendship must be mutual.
In terms of defending our unity, the ideals of October 1, and the achievements and gains of recent years, another test awaits us on October 4. In the approaching local self-government elections, unmasked internal and external enemies see yet another opportunity for chaos, a coup d’état and the realisation of their own objectives.
Increasingly, people are realising their true intentions; their support is waning daily, and Georgia’s state institutions are now stronger than ever. This convinces them that their only remaining chance involves even greater radicalism, a direct attack on their own state and, consequently, on the people.
Against this backdrop, on 4 October, we have the opportunity to demonstrate once again that our struggle today is about going to the polling stations, making a free choice, and safeguarding peace and stability. Today, we have the opportunity to definitively and peacefully affirm the peaceful victory achieved in 2012, to consign radicalism and mutual confrontation to the past, and then to strive for greater development and prosperity, to eradicate poverty, to strengthen sovereignty, and to unite the country peacefully!
Long live the united Georgian people! Long live united Georgia!” Bidzina Ivanishvili said in a statement.
