GEORGIA: Ivanishvili on South Ossetians & more – 19th Sep 2024

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 19th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Saturday, the 14th, during the event of the Georgian Dream or Otsneba in Gori, Bidzina Ivanishvili said that Georgia needs to apologize to Ossetians for the two thousand eight Russo-Georgian War.

Since coming to power, Otsneba has been blaming the then-ruling party, the United National Movement or Natsebi, for escalating a decades-long but mainly frozen conflict with the separatist South Ossetian or Samachablo region into a full-blown war in two thousand eight. Otsneba amplified this narrative as the country prepares for parliamentary elections on the 26th of October and the ruling party seeks to reaffirm its position as a guarantor of peace with Russia.

Ivanishvili promised that, after Otsneba’s victory, the government would conduct a Nuremberg-style trial to punish everyone responsible for the conflict—meaning the Georgian side, specifically current or former members of the Natsebi.

The statement caused a massive backlash from both opposition parties and family members of soldiers who died during the Russian invasion.

Ivanishvilis’s statement did not go unnoticed in South Ossetia or Samachablo. De facto leaders of the separatist region expressed hope that Ivanishvili's statements will not remain just a political narrative but be followed by actionable steps. In particular, they are demanding that Georgia sign a non-violence agreement, which would prohibit the country from using force to restore its jurisdiction in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are internationally recognized as part of Georgia.

Ivanishvilis's new rhetoric also received a nod from Russia. Grigori Karasin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Relations Committee, stated that Georgia has become more politically mature in the last sixteen years — that is, after the two thousand eight Russo-Georgian war.

He said that the hostile and confrontational rhetoric that Mika Saakashvili, the former president, advocated for should be replaced by a more reasonable one, oriented on maintaining stability.

Going back to Otsneba’s election talking points, on Tuesday, the 17th, the Parliament passed an anti-LGBTQ law in its third and final hearing. This is a significant setback for organizations working on minority rights. Even though homophobia is rampant in Georgia, until now it had a relatively progressive legal framework for the protection of minorities, especially when compared to other countries in the region.

Since Otsneba has been trying to consolidate its very conservative voter base for the upcoming elections, it has intensified its homophobic rhetoric and has initiated this legislative package under the guise of protecting family values and children from LGBTQ propaganda.

The new laws prohibit public meetings and demonstrations aimed at promoting same-sex relationships, gender-affirming care, adoption by non-heterosexual people, change of gender in ID, among others.

Next, on Monday, the 16th, President Salome Zourabishvili held a briefing at the presidential palace. During her speech, she discussed the historical importance of the upcoming elections. She proposed that, in order to fully mobilize opposition voters and increase the chances of defeating Otsneba, two opposition parties—Mamuka Khazaradze’s Lelo for Georgia and Gogi’s Gakharia’s For Georgia or Saqartvelostvis —should unite into a single party.

She invited the party leaders to the presidential palace on the following day to discuss her proposal.

While this idea sounds good in theory, there is significant antagonism between the two politicians. Gakharia was one of Otsneba’s prime ministers before leaving the party and Khazaradze partially blames him for sabotaging his Anaklia Port project, which was supposed to be the first deep-water port in Georgia.

However, Gakharia and Khazaradze attended the proposed meeting and said that they would continue negotiations.

While neither side discussed the details, Khazaradze mentioned that several foundational topics need to be agreed upon before reaching a decision. Gakharia, on the other hand, stated that he already made all of his conditions clear to Khazaradze and is now waiting for an answer.

If these two parties unite, they have the potential to become the largest opposition party in Georgia.

In other news, on Thursday, the 12th, Eka Gigauri, the Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, testified at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about anti-NGO laws and other tools of democratic repression. Gigauri stated that if Georgian democracy fails and the country returns to Russia’s sphere of influence, it will negatively impact any chances for democratic development in the whole region. She also discussed the openly anti-Western rhetoric used by the Georgian government and the coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at weakening civil society.

On Monday, the 16th, Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, announced a new package of sanctions targeting individuals in Georgia. This list includes people who are undermining democracy in the country.

Visa restrictions will be imposed on more than sixty government officials and their family members. Separately, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned four individuals, placing financial and banking restrictions on them. One of them is Zviad Kharazishvili, also known as Khareba, who is the head of the Department of Special Tasks in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Khareba was allegedly involved in organizing violence against protesters during the anti-Russian law protests. His deputy was also sanctioned.

The two remaining individuals sanctioned are Konstantine Morgoshia and Zurab Makharadze, who are leaders of the openly pro-Russian political organization Alt-info. This far-right extremist group organized violent anti-LGBTQ protests.

In sports news. Merab “the machine” Dvalishvili has become the UFC’s bantamweight champion by defeating the previous titleholder, Sean O’Malley. He became the second Georgian to win a UFC championship title this year. Ilia Topuria holds the championship title in UFC’s featherweight division.

In culture news. The biggest creative festival in the region, Ad Black Sea twenty twenty-four, began on Thursday, the 12th. The event, which takes place in Batumi, is aimed at professionals in the marketing industry. Over the course of three days, participants attended presentations by industry leaders, panel discussions, workshops, and an award ceremony.

There were competitions in thirteen categories, including design, branding, and video advertisement. An international jury from twenty different countries picked the winners.

Another Festival started on Thursday, the 19th. DataFest Tbilisi is the biggest Data Festival in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is held for professionals who work in the Data Industry, such as startups, Data Analysts, AI engineers, and developers. Speakers include representatives of tech giants such as Google, Meta, Amazon, Canva and Wix. The festival lasts three days and is taking place at the Pullan Hotel.

Also on Thursday, an interesting event was held at the Georgia Branch Office of The Max Weber Foundation about the German Democratic Republic or GDR’s Stasi records. Alexandra Titze, the Vice President of the German Federal Archives, gave a lecture, titled "The Legacy of a Secret," about how the German society dealt with the records that the GDR government collected by spying on its citizens for forty years.

And to close this edition, some news for Georgian film fans — especially those in the UK: The 8th London Georgian Film Festival will kick off on the 2nd of October. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the director and screenwriter Sergei Parajanov, the festival will open with his film The Color of Pomegranates.

The Festival was founded by the British Georgian Society in two thousand five. The organization’s goal is to promote Georgian art, film, music, culture, archaeology, history, and business, as well as to strengthen the ties between the United Kingdom and Georgia. Don’t forget to check the link in the show notes for the festival’s program and ticket reservations.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Nakhvamdis!