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A day after watching US President Donald Trump give his inaugural address, Salome Zourabichvili—who is considered by pro-democracy forces as Georgia’s legitimate president, in contrast to the president installed by the Georgian Dream party regime in December—said she picked up on Trump’s vow to make the United States stronger. “A strong America that is effective and is active. . . that is the America that certainly Georgia needs,” she said, “because we cannot just have words. We need action in today’s situation in Georgia.”
Speaking at an Atlantic Council Front Page event Tuesday, Zourabichvili said that she would like to see Trump publicly acknowledge that “elections in Georgia were rigged, that this is not acceptable, and that new elections have to take place.”
“Georgia needs today, more than ever, the attention of its American friends,” Zourabichvili said. “We are really at a turning point,” with the question being whether Georgia moves closer to Russia or closer to the West.
Zourabichvili said she’d also like to see European countries take “more clear positions” beyond refusing to recognize the Georgian Dream government. She would also like to see more support for protesters, who are being arrested, repressed, and even tortured by the regime.
“The people in Georgia need to know that our traditional partners, Americans and Europeans, are on their side,” she said. “We need to be seen and supported morally.”
Below are more highlights from the conversation—moderated by Ia Meurmishvili, chief international correspondent at the Cipher Brief—in which Zourabichvili discussed Georgian Dream’s tactics and the strength of the pro-democracy protests across the country.
A wrong turn
- Georgian Dream has begun shopping for “alternatives” to Georgia’s Western partners, Zourabichvili said. “They think they can find the compensation”—whether in the form of economic support from China, political support from Russia, or regional influence with Iran—needed “to support their dictatorship,” she explained.
- But, she warned, those potential powers have “geopolitical interests” in Georgia and will thus “exploit” Georgian Dream’s weaknesses.
- For example, Russia is interested in Georgia in line with its aim to expand its influence in the Black Sea region—and may “exploit” the country as part of, “in a way, finding a revenge [for] the war it cannot win in Ukraine,” Zourabichvili said.
- In Georgia, Russia is “close” to its “end goal,” she warned, as there is now a Georgian government “which they can control. . . [treats] the European-American partners the way [Vladimir] Putin does, and [does] not have any aspiration or attempt to independence.”
- She said that China would exploit Georgian Dream for its own economic aims, for example by advancing its interests around the Anaklia port and by offering Georgia nontransparent contracts for such infrastructure projects. “Georgia has nothing to gain,” Zourabichvili argued.
The Euro-Atlantic path
- Zourabichvili called the question of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic path an “existential” one. That path “is what the Georgian population wants today, as it wanted yesterday, and as it wants for its future.”
- Zourabichvili praised the Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act, reintroduced in the US Congress earlier this month, which aims to support Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and to conduct a sanctions review of all Georgian Dream officials.
- “It shows that if we want to be isolated, that those are the risks of isolation. And if we come back to our original path, the Euro-Atlantic path, then there can be measures taken that will very quickly bring us back to the partnership with the United States.”
- She said that the United States has been “essential” in helping Georgia along that Euro-Atlantic path, including by helping shape the country’s institutions. But “I don’t think that the United States can accept a country as a friend and as a partner” if it no longer has “any of the institutions that the United States has supported over the years,” she said, pointing to the disputed elections.
The voice of the people
- Zourabichvili said that the tools available to her as president had been “restricted” to the point that she was left with “nothing much” but pardoning and granting decorations. Now that she has left the presidential palace, she said that she is determined to “represent the large part of the society that today has no other forms of expression” and to continue representing Georgia internationally.
- Zourabichvili noted that, during the election campaign, Georgian Dream pushed a narrative that Georgia could be “dragged into a war” if it grew closer to the West. “It’s a very Russian propaganda, and it has worked,” she said. “The result now,” she said, is that Georgia’s government has declared “political war. . . not only on our partners. . . but on its own population.”
- She added that not only is Georgian Dream adopting Russian rhetoric, the regime is resorting to “Russian-type repression” through violent crackdowns and tactics meant to instill fear in protesters. Zourabichvili said that such “terror” tactics aren’t working—instead, they’re fueling the movement and eroding political support for Georgian Dream.
- Nevertheless, “there is no sign” that the protesters “are going to resign,” Zourabichvili said.
Katherine Walla is the associate director of editorial at the Atlantic Council.
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Further reading
Wed, Dec 4, 2024
To help Georgians, the West must drive a wedge between Georgia and the Russia-China-Iran camp
New Atlanticist By Maia Nikoladze
Despite strong support among Georgians for their country to join the European Union, the governing Georgian Dream party has taken big steps to break with the West in favor of the “axis of evasion.”
Wed, Dec 4, 2024
Georgian protests escalate amid fears over mounting Russian influence
UkraineAlert By
The outcome of the current protests in Georgia will likely define the country's future and shape the geopolitical climate in the southern Caucasus and beyond for years to come, writes Ana Lejava.
Tue, Nov 26, 2024
Abandoning Georgia to the Kremlin would be a big geopolitical blunder
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Georgia is far from a lost cause, but it will require bold Western leadership to prevent the country’s capture by the Kremlin, writes Zviad Adzinbaia.
Image: Georgia, Tbilisi, 2024/10/28. Supporters of the pro-European opposition gather in downtown Tbilisi in front of the parliament to contest the parliamentary election results. The opposition accuses the ruling party of having stolen the election. Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia, speaks to the protesters.Photograph by Maurizio Orlando/ Hans Lucas. Georgie, Tbilissi, 2024/10/28. Des partisans de l opposition pro europeenne se rassemblent dans le centre ville de Tbilissi, devant le parlement pour contester les resultats des elections legislatives. L opposition accuse le parti au pouvoir d avoir vole les elections. Salome Zourabichvili, presidente de la Georgie, prend la parole. Photographie par Maurizio Orlando/ Hans Lucas.