MP of the Georgian National Assembly “National Movement Democrats” faction and member of the foreign relations committee, Zurab Davitashvili, is currently in Armenia with the purpose of taking part in the 27th Black Sea Economic Cooperation chief parliamentary session. Here is the interview with “168 Hours”:
– Georgian state officials keep stating the fact that they no longer want to be part of the CIS. Is it possible for Georgia to decide to leave the CIS?
– Some Georgian MPs have actually expressed their point of views on that; they consider it useless to be part of the CIS. After what happened with the Georgian wine and mineral water, people are starting to ask themselves: why stay in the CIS if there is no offer for economic cooperation? However, Georgia hasn’t made an official decision yet. We hope that that issue will be solved during the Georgian and Russian presidents’ meeting to be held in St. Petersburg.
– How do you look at current Georgian-Russian relations? It’s evident that they are not the same after the Revolution of Roses.
– It’s impossible to consider Georgian-Russian relations as good. The two countries are in a state of tension, both at the political and economic levels. I must say that Georgia is very disappointed in the policy that Russia adopted for Southern Osia and Abkhazia. That’s the reason why the tension is growing. The economic hardships added more salt to the wound. Today, Georgia depends on Russia’s energetic resources and if Russia sets bans on Georgian products, the relations will get tenser. There is no doubt that what happened with the Georgian wine and “Borzhomi” was a political act. The thing is that the fraud of Georgian wine and Borzhomi” mineral water is in Russia and Georgia has nothing to do with that. In fact, it’s all aimed against Georgia.
– Currently, things are not looking too good in Javakhk. How would you describe the current situation in Javakhk? Do you share the opinion that Russia is causing the tension?
– You know that Javakhk is in a heavy social/economic status. In addition to that, we had the Russian military bases taken out of Javakhk and there were many residents of Javakhk working at those bases. So, they are basically losing their jobs with the dislocation of those bases and their only source of income. I am certain that ethnicity has nothing to do with this. Armenians and Georgians have a century-old history and there are many Armenians living in Javakhk. We have the Armenian culture, schools and newspapers. The solution to the problem is not to demand autonomy. Georgia can solve the problem only after improving the social/economic status. As for Russia causing the tension, I must say that people are of that opinion. There are certain groups in Russia who are trying to provoke Armenians and Georgians. For example, Zhirinovski announced that if the military bases are dislocated, they will make everything worse and forbid the flow of products from Georgia. But I don’t think we should pay attention to that or respond.