Press Scanner
Compiled by Mzia Kupunia
Tuesday, April 28
Is the President taking a holiday in Bodrum?
Turkish Weekly has reported that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is holidaying in Bodrum, Kviris Palitra writes. The Turkish report says that Saakashvili landed at Bodrum Airport in his own plane and checked into the hotel accompanied by his escort. Turkish Weekly did not report how long Saakashvili would stay in Bodrum.
The President’s Administration strongly denied the report, saying that Saakashvili would return from Sofia to Georgia on April 26. However in order to check it the TV personality Utsnobi (Giorgi Gachechiladze) called the Bodrum Hotel live on air on his “Cell Number 5” show and asked reception to connect him to the Georgian President. The receptionist politely answered that they could not wake up the President and asked Utsnobi to call back in the morning.
On the evening on April 26 Mikheil Saakashvili met the families of victims outside the collapsed Star Academy building.
The opposition are doing everything they can to save the Government
“The Government hopes that the other side will make a mistake and that it will take advantage of this mistake,” political analyst Gia Khukhashvili has told Akhali Taoba, commenting on the current political crisis and demonstrations, “or the authorities will themselves provoke the mistake and benefit from it. However this is not the right way to proceed, because even if the Government manages to do this, the protest will not end. Nothing is lost without trace. Protest is protest, whether it takes place in the kitchen or the street.
“The protest of people sitting in a kitchen is more dangerous than street protest, as a consolidated street protest is easier to control and regulate. The protest in the kitchen might find a more dangerous public expression, as it could lead to arms being used. If people become convinced that it is impossible to lead a political fight by peaceful means, what option does the Government leave them? Only taking up arms, civil confrontation, civil war.
“The opposition are doing their best to save the Government, because we know that society has a more radical mood and demands than those the opposition are expressing. The opposition are a kind of a buffer between society and the Government, i.e. they are deterring aggression rather than instigating it,” Khukhashvili says.
Burjanadze’s new initiative
The Chair of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia, Nino Burjanadze, has suggested to other opposition groups that they all adopt a Responsibility Charter, Kviris Palitra reports. The document will list the minimal duties and responsibilities that the opposition will fulfill if they become the Government. “It will be some kind of a guarantee for the citizens of Georgia that they will not lose any of the benefits that have been gained up until now in the event of a change of Government and that they will be able to demand from the new Government that it resolves some specific, additional issues,” Burjanadze notes.
Turkish Weekly has reported that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is holidaying in Bodrum, Kviris Palitra writes. The Turkish report says that Saakashvili landed at Bodrum Airport in his own plane and checked into the hotel accompanied by his escort. Turkish Weekly did not report how long Saakashvili would stay in Bodrum.
The President’s Administration strongly denied the report, saying that Saakashvili would return from Sofia to Georgia on April 26. However in order to check it the TV personality Utsnobi (Giorgi Gachechiladze) called the Bodrum Hotel live on air on his “Cell Number 5” show and asked reception to connect him to the Georgian President. The receptionist politely answered that they could not wake up the President and asked Utsnobi to call back in the morning.
On the evening on April 26 Mikheil Saakashvili met the families of victims outside the collapsed Star Academy building.
The opposition are doing everything they can to save the Government
“The Government hopes that the other side will make a mistake and that it will take advantage of this mistake,” political analyst Gia Khukhashvili has told Akhali Taoba, commenting on the current political crisis and demonstrations, “or the authorities will themselves provoke the mistake and benefit from it. However this is not the right way to proceed, because even if the Government manages to do this, the protest will not end. Nothing is lost without trace. Protest is protest, whether it takes place in the kitchen or the street.
“The protest of people sitting in a kitchen is more dangerous than street protest, as a consolidated street protest is easier to control and regulate. The protest in the kitchen might find a more dangerous public expression, as it could lead to arms being used. If people become convinced that it is impossible to lead a political fight by peaceful means, what option does the Government leave them? Only taking up arms, civil confrontation, civil war.
“The opposition are doing their best to save the Government, because we know that society has a more radical mood and demands than those the opposition are expressing. The opposition are a kind of a buffer between society and the Government, i.e. they are deterring aggression rather than instigating it,” Khukhashvili says.
Burjanadze’s new initiative
The Chair of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia, Nino Burjanadze, has suggested to other opposition groups that they all adopt a Responsibility Charter, Kviris Palitra reports. The document will list the minimal duties and responsibilities that the opposition will fulfill if they become the Government. “It will be some kind of a guarantee for the citizens of Georgia that they will not lose any of the benefits that have been gained up until now in the event of a change of Government and that they will be able to demand from the new Government that it resolves some specific, additional issues,” Burjanadze notes.