American Senator Jeanne Shaheen and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner were in Georgia this week, visiting representatives of the Georgian government, opposition parties and the non-governmental sector.
"To get back on track, the Georgian government must take the first step. We are waiting for their proposals," Shaheen said in her first statement after her arrival.
"As we face increasingly aggressive actions by authoritarian states like Russia, which invaded Georgia 16 years ago, it is important that we reaffirm the United States' strong support for the Georgian people's right to a country that can determine its own future," the senator said. "In our meetings here with government officials and civil society organizations, we recommitted to supporting the Georgian people's aspirations for European integration - but we also stated that we will not stand idly by in the face of democratic backsliding and false statements against the United States."
She claimed that the first step to return to the right track must be taken by the Georgian government.
"We need free and fair elections and serious efforts to repeal the foreign agent law, which is doing more harm than good to the country as we advance our EU membership agenda. The first step back on the right track should be taken by the Georgian government and we await its proposals."
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said the government had already made it very clear to its colleagues how it envisaged the reorientation of Georgian-American relations.
"It is important that next year we do not see such processes as in the last four years, for example, what the former American ambassador did. Reorienting relations requires a fair, correct and healthy approach. On our side, steps have been taken, we are in standby mode and are waiting for appropriate steps from our American colleagues."
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the majority leader of the Georgian Dream party in parliament, criticized the congressman, pointing out that Google had called Mike Turner “one of the most corrupt congressmen.”
“It is sad that such people come and criticize the Georgian Dream.”
The capital's mayor Kakha Kaladze told journalists: "What we heard from them was a campaign of lies about the transparency law. They claimed that transparency is bad. If I do something wrong, you should tell me as a friend what I am doing wrong. We did not hear any objections to the law, they had only one answer: 'because'. This is not the right attitude. We respect the country's strategic partners, we are ready for friendship and cooperation, but it should be reciprocal. I think these relations have reached a dead end and need to be revived. The Georgian government is taking concrete steps to deepen the existing relations," Kaladze concluded.
Opposition MP Zurab Japaridze of the Girchi More Freedom/Coalition for Change party told the media that they had understood from the VIP visitors that "no restart is possible until the Russian law is repealed and the anti-Western propaganda is stopped."
"The fact that Ivanishvili did not meet them personally is significant," Japaridze said. "But the fact that the senators themselves underlined this shows that everything has been disclosed, that they know exactly who is leading the processes in this country, who is the source of all these problems."
By Team GT
