GD Macharashvili: Saakashvili and his foreign patrons saw reconciliation could end peacefully — apparently, that didn’t suit them

Mikheil Saakashvili’s statement once again confirms that neither his nor the United National Movement’s goal was ever to restore Georgia’s territorial integrity or pursue reconciliation with Abkhazians and Ossetians, despite the fact that they formally spoke about such a process while in government, People’s Power executive secretary Guram Macharashvili said.

According to Macharashvili, Saakashvili’s statement once again demonstrates that the former president does not consider these regions important.

“A person himself says that there is no chance of reconciling with Abkhazians. Naturally, there would have been anger and a certain conflict, because that is characteristic of war. If there had been peaceful coexistence during a war, there would have been no war in the first place.

“If someone is opposed to reconciliation, it means that you are an agent of a foreign force that does not want these conflicts to end. With this statement, he has essentially signed his name to all the accusations that have generally been made against him regarding the territories of Abkhazia and Samachablo.

From our side, the perspective will always be that we must achieve peaceful coexistence with Abkhazians and Ossetians within a united state. This requires taking steps, which is happening gradually and little by little,” Macharashvili said.

He added that the process would also be facilitated by Georgia’s economic development and changes in the international situation, including changes in the attitudes of major powers toward Georgia.

“This will be complemented by our desire to deepen relations with Abkhazians and Ossetians. As for the statement by the former so-called president, I emphasize once again that the goal here is to derail this dialogue.

“Everyone says, including ethnic Georgians who lived in Samachablo, that there were no problems with either movement or living there. There were also economic relations between Abkhazians, Ossetians and Georgians. The problem that exists today emerged after the 2008 war.

In reality, Saakashvili and his foreign patrons saw that the reconciliation process in these regions could have ended peacefully, and apparently that did not suit them. They had their agent there, called him and told him to derail the process. This statement is precisely indicative of that,” Macharashvili said.

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili recently wrote on social media: “Anyone who thinks that the way to restore control over Abkhazia lies only in reconciling, at most, 50,000 Abkhazians has jelly instead of thoughts in their head.”