U.S. Backs Tbilisi’s Conflict Resolution Plans

Tbilisi’s recent policy vis-a-vis conflict resolution issues is in line with U.S. government recommendations, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said after concluding his two-day visit to Georgia on March 30.

During his visit Bryza met with Georgia’s top leadership, as well as with other key political figures, including Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, General Prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili and Education Minister Alexander Lomaia. Talks with opposition politicians were also held.

Conflicts
 
President Saakashvili’s recent proposal to set up a provisional territorial unit in South Ossetia with pro-Tbilisi, local ‘alternative leader’ Dimitri Sanakoev as its head, is seen as Tbilisi’s another attempt at shattering a decade-long status quo in the conflict zone – something which is desperately opposed by the secessionist authorities in Tskhinvali and their backers in Moscow.

Georgian officials, in particular parliamentary chairperson Nino Burjanadze, said the proposal was high on the agenda during the discussions with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bryza.

Although Bryza said that he was not “familiar with [the] specifics of [the] proposal for [a] special administrative entity in South Ossetia” he added that the Georgian authorities’ approach towards the South Ossetian conflict “sounds like exactly the approach we have discussed in our government with your leaders for [the] last few years.”

Speaking at a news conference on March 30, Bryza noted that in respect of the conflict resolution process the Georgian side has followed a “very constructive and very effective approach in the last couple of months.”

“Our recommendations have been for the government in Tbilisi to reach out to all people in South Ossetia and to use positive incentives – economic, cultural, political, or job creation – to attract South Ossetians back to common Georgian home,” he said at a news conference on March 30.

Bryza also hailed the restraint Tbilisi has showed after Georgian-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in breakaway Abkhazia had been attacked on March 11.

He said that Tbilisi’s calm reaction only “strengthened Georgia’s international position.”

“The Georgian government demonstrated that it will not be provoked by an external attack on its sovereign territory,” Bryza added.

He also condemned the March 25 attack which left two Georgian policemen dead in the South Ossetian conflict zone as a “terrorist act.”

Opposition’s Fair Concerns

Before talks with the Georgian leadership, the U.S. official met with key Opposition leaders.

Bryza said that one of the messages voiced by Opposition leaders was “absolutely unified support” for Georgia’s NATO ambitions.

“And I’ve heard mostly thoughtful, constructive and I would say fair concern and criticism of many aspects of Georgian society, including democratic reform and judicial reform,” he added.

He also said that during the meeting the opposition raised all those issues, including property rights and the judicial system, which are at the center of political debate in Georgia.

Bryza noted that Georgia “has done a remarkable job” in reforming, but “there is still a very long way to go.”

Opposition leaders’ reactions were mainly positive after the meeting with the U.S. official on March 29.

“We can only welcome the fact that assessments made by the United States about developments in Georgia are becoming more and more realistic. They [the American side] remain friends of Georgia, but judging from their rhetoric, it has become clearer that they are better studying the problems here. More issues and initiative coming from the [Georgian] authorities are becoming matters for discussion, rather than unconditional support,” Davit Usupashvili, leader of the Republican Party, said.

Georgia’s Deportation Lawsuit ‘Not Unfriendly’

Speaking about Georgia’s lawsuit against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights, Bryza suggested that mutual compromise may help to resolve the dispute.

He said Georgia’s decision to bring Russia to the Strasbourg-based Court was not an “unfriendly act at all” as it had been described by Moscow.

“Deportation of Georgians was [an] extremely unfriendly act… We encourage the Georgian government to react calmly to this, although the actions were deplorable… Some of our friends in Europe actually encouraged the Georgian government to take … exactly that step and go to the European Court of Human Rights and use the existing legal mechanism rather than political rhetoric… The Georgian government is defending [the] legal rights of its citizens through established judicial procedures,” Bryza said.

“And the next step, hopefully, will be that sanctions imposed against Georgia will be lifted and then Georgia will respond with kind and positive gestures and we’ll see an action and reaction that warms relations between Georgia and Russia,” he added.