Friends in Need

Shevardnadze, Abashidze Pledge Cooperation

Shevardnadze and Abashidze greet supporters at the Batumi Stadium. Photo provided by Batumi local newspaper Batumelebi

While thousands of protesters keep protesting in Tbilisi demanding Eduard Shevardnadze’s resignation President Shevardnadze visited Batumi, the capital of Adjara Autonomous Republic on November 10 to seek support of the Adjara leader Aslan Abashidze.

On the wake of failure to compromise with the opposition leaders President Shevardnadze found full support in Adjara. Aslan Abashidze pledged assistance in overcoming current crisis in the country, which were sparked by the election fraud. However the details of the talks between Shevardnadze and Abashidze remain confidential.

“We always were together and will be together,” Shevardnadze addressed the Revival Union supporters gathered at the Batumi stadium, which greeted the both leaders by chanting “Grandpa, Grandpa” – a nickname of Aslan Abashidze, which is also used by many ordinary Georgians referring to Eduard Shevardnadze.

“The demagoguery must stop,” Shevardnadze told the crowd in reference to opposition leaders. “You cannot build a country on that. Only hardworking people can build Georgia. Georgia is experiencing revival and that has started in Adjara,” he added.

On the wake of the political crisis in Tbilisi Adjara parliament modified Constitution of the Adjara Autonomous Republic to provide Aslan Abashidze with a title of a supreme military commander of the autonomy with the right to maintain own military units.

This amendment contradicts the Constitution of Georgia, under which the Autonomous Republic can not have military forces. However President Shevardnadze remained silent on this issue. Other disagreements, such as Adjara’s refusal to transfer taxes to the central budget also remained muted.

Instead, Abashidze and Shevardandze closed the ranks against their common opponents, and Mikheil Saakashvili, the radical leader of the New National Movement ranks top among them.

Before the bilateral talks with President Shevardnadze Aslan Abashidze addressed his supporters at the Batumi stadium, “if the National Movement comes to power, this will be a disaster. We will not admit it. We should stand by the legitimate authorities and protect democracy in the country.”

The Adjarian leadership promised to provide any assistance to the Georgian President. “We can arrive to Tbilisi with our supporters not only to defend our votes but also to defend your [referring to Shevardnadze] votes,” Jemal Gogitidze, one of the leaders of the Revival Union.

“We can even assist Shevardnadze with our military units, and if necessary with the Russian military forces [Russian military base is still deployed in Batumi],” Jemal Gogitidze said later on November 10 in the interview to the Rustavi 2 TV channel.

However late Shevardnadze dismissed the rumors that he asked for the military backing from Adjara if things go sour in Tbilisi. “I will never dare to ask Adjara for the military assistance,” Shevardnadze told the Adjara’s state TV channel.

Exactly two years ago, in November, 2001, Eduard Shevardnadze visited Batumi to tackle the crisis, caused by the raid of the security ministry on the Rustavi 2 independent TV station. Tens of thousand people rallied in 2001 to defend freedom of speech and demanded Shevardnadze’s resignation. The statements made by the two leaders two years ago in Batumi were very similar to those made on November 10, 2003, pledging cooperation.

In 2001, President overcame the crisis by sending the entire government into resignation.