“It is important, including within the framework of the Parliament’s Bureau, to state that no one will escape political responsibility and public exposure if there is even a single act of violence. Of course, we will have a very loud conversation about every foreigner who expresses solidarity with the perpetrators. We have tolerated for a long time that they pat the heads of these perpetrators!” said Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament, during a Bureau meeting.
According to Papuashvili’s assessment, “several externally incited groups are trying to undermine democracy in Georgia and prevent Georgian citizens from exercising their voting rights.”
“The Parliament’s temporary investigative commission issued a conclusion, and the Parliament adopted a resolution stating that the ‘National Movement’ had established a criminal state structure before 2012 and, after moving to the opposition, continues its subversive activities and hostility toward Georgia. We know that they have announced violence in parallel with the elections and intend to obstruct Georgian citizens from expressing their will.
It is scandalous that the European Commission’s spokesperson expressed solidarity with this violent and pre-announced criminal act, which inherently implies sharing responsibility for any violence that occurs during an event organized by the ‘National Movement.’
Therefore, it is important, including within the framework of the Parliament’s Bureau, to state that no one will escape political responsibility and public exposure if there is even a single act of violence. Of course, we will have a very loud conversation about every foreigner who expresses solidarity with the perpetrators. We have tolerated for a long time that they pat the heads of these perpetrators.
Do you remember when the first incident of throwing a Molotov cocktail occurred in Georgia’s history? The criminal perpetrator, who was also a recidivist and had committed other violent crimes against a family member, was almost declared a hero. European parliamentarians supported this act and practically declared him a hero. At that time, a campaign encouraging Molotov cocktails was funded by the EU budget, and not a single passport-holding European or EU official has distanced themselves from it to this day.
The result was that if one Molotov cocktail was thrown back then, four or five followed. Those who today recall the Bolshevik slogan that ‘the end justifies the means’—back then, Bolshevik terror was imposed on us from outside, and today, in the guise of transformed liberal terror, they are trying to establish terror in Georgia with the same slogans. Therefore, we will, of course, be vocal against any incitement, funding, support, or justification of violence.
Georgia is not anyone’s experimental territory—everyone must take responsibility for their own political system and focus on that. So, we will certainly respond to this.
On October 4, every citizen who is a patriot of Georgia must go to the elections and make a choice in favor of peace, not terror. We must show everyone, both inside and outside the country, who turns a blind eye to the will of the Georgian people.
They have selected their own so-called elite group, which they feed with funds and then present as the Georgian people—beyond that, they see no one. This is evident in everything, including the fact that, beyond this elite cream they’ve nurtured with their money, the Georgian people are of no interest to them—whether it’s external forces or internal political actors. The pre-election campaign is ongoing, and we see that they don’t even work with the people—they don’t go out, they don’t talk to the people, they are only engaged in fighting against the country from their TV studios.
Instead of going to municipalities, meeting voters, and gaining their support, we see them traveling to the capitals of other countries to gain their support. This is the difference between independence and vassalage. Today, the situation has crystallized, and it is clear: on one side stands independence and sovereignty, and on the other side stands subservience to others, waving someone else’s flag, denigrating one’s own country in other countries, and inciting fire and words against one’s own country,” Papuashvili stated.
Shalva Papuashvili: No one will escape political responsibility and public exposure if there is even a single act of violence – we will have a very loud conversation about every foreigner who expresses solidarity with the perpetrators!
