Ex-president Saakashvili: I feel a rapidly growing surge of popular love; our mission is Georgia’s liberation and the return of Abkhazia

“A Reforms Council is being established with the participation of myself and Nanuka Zhorzholiani. It will draft a package of reforms, which we will approve within six months. No matter how difficult the situation may be—and especially now, as we are on the rise, we must remember that we were born for victory,” declared former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in an audio address to the United National Movement (UNM) congress.

According to Saakashvili, UNM members are fighters who will march as far as they can, and then as far as necessary.

“I greet the congress of the United National Movement; I greet you, my fearless comrades-in-arms. My deep thanks to you, thanks to the movement’s former leadership, and heartfelt thanks to our political prisoners, Levan Khabeishvili, Irakli Nadiradze, Murtaz Zodelava, Paata Burtchuladze, and Manjgaladze, and to our youth for their selflessness. Warm thanks as well to our hundreds of thousands of supporters. In truth, we are vast in numbers, and we must rediscover one another, join hands once again, and find the inner strength to press forward. We in the UNM are fighters who will march as far as we can, and then as far as necessary.

Great changes lie ahead. A Reforms Council is being formed with my participation and that of Nanuka Zhorzholiani. It will prepare a reform package that we will approve in six months. No matter how daunting the circumstances, and particularly now, as we tread the path of revival, we must hold fast to this truth: we were born to win.

Friends, my loyal comrades-in-arms who have endured so many trials to build this state: just as in 2003 and 2008, our country is calling us once more. Once again, it falls upon us to rescue Georgia’s existence, reputation, and future. You are an extraordinary team that once defeated corruption, crime, blackouts, and despair more successfully than anyone in the world. We ignited a wave of progress across the entire region and wrote golden pages in Georgian history. Today, our country stands in grave peril, and once again we must reclaim our two most vital Georgian values: freedom and our European trajectory.

A free, European society is the sole environment in which Georgian identity, national talent, and intellect can flourish; everything else is an imposed Russian quagmire.

For five years now, I have endured harsh prison conditions, isolation, torture, poisoning, and unrelenting vilification from all sides, all because I feel your solidarity, for which I am profoundly grateful, as well as a rapidly growing surge of popular love. This surge is already bursting its banks, will soon tear through the regime’s barriers, and will propel us with great energy toward freedom, a return to the European family, and national reconstruction. My goal, and that of our comrades behind bars, is not merely personal liberty but something far greater: the liberation of Georgia, bringing light back into the eyes of our people, freeing our nation from occupation and the mire, regaining Abkhazia, and building a triumphant, great Georgian state.

Yes, we are currently striving to overcome daily hardships, but we must never forget our supreme purpose: to be strong once more, to astound the world with our achievements again, and to raise our Five-Cross Flag of freedom in Abkhazia. Every attempt by our adversaries to divide and demotivate us has backfired; the enemy’s efforts have ultimately come to nothing, and they will never succeed in sidelining us. We are the guardians of the idea of Georgian statehood and, as such, remain the principal Georgian political force in this country,” declared Saakashvili.