Tbilisi, Chisinau Condemn Separatist Conflicts, Agree on Promoting Democracy, Reforming GUUAM

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his Moldovan counterpart Vladimir Voronin signed two joint declarations – one about the supremacy of democratic values and another regarding the secessionist conflicts- in Moldova’s capital Chisinau on March 2. The two Presidents also discussed reforming GUUAM and agreed to hold a summit of the coalition in Chisinau in April.

Saakashvili’s first-ever visit to Chisinau came just a few days before parliamentary elections in Moldova, scheduled for March 6. “I came here to support democracy,” Saakashvili said after talks with Voronin, in an attempt to disallow the interpretation that his visit was an endorsement of Voronin on the eve of elections.  The Georgian President also met with leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Popular Party (CDPP) Iurie Rosca.

The joint Declaration over the Supremacy of Democratic Values and Principles is similar to one signed by Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko in January, known as the Karpat Declaration. The latter alluded to a “third wave of democratization” based on the recent, peaceful revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine.

One day before his talks with Saakashvili, Vladimir Voronin paid a surprise visit to Kiev and met Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko. A joint communique signed after the talks says that Ukraine and Moldova support each other’s efforts to integrate into the European structures.

Another joint Declaration Against the ‘Black Holes’ in Europe signed by Saakashvili and Voronin refers to the Russian-backed secessionist regions of Transdnestria in Moldova and Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. This declaration also calls Russia to remove its military bases from Georgia and Moldova.

“We [Georgia and Moldova] share many similar problems and, first of all, we both are facing the problem of territorial integrity. These signed documents absolutely reflect this issue,” Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said.

“There is no place for lawlessness, violence or all those things which have exhausted us for all these years in Europe,” President Saakashvili said.

The two joint declarations are reportedly written in English, unlike other documents signed between the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which are usually in Russian.
 
The Georgian and Moldovan Presidents also discussed cooperation in frames of GUUAM, which is an informal grouping of five former Soviet states – Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova, which has actually become defunct, as both Uzbekistan and Leonid Kuchma’s Ukraine lost interest in promoting the organization. Saakashvili said that a GUUAM summit will be held in Chisinau on April 22.

President Saakashvili spoke about the re-vitalization of GUUAM in the context of promoting democracy. “GUUAM is gradually becoming an organization of new democratic states, which are on the road towards European integration,” Mikheil Saakashvili said at a news conference in Chisinau.

Some political analysts, as well as the press in both Russia and Georgia, have already speculated that by reforming and re-vitalizing GUUAM, an ‘anti-Russian coalition’ will be established within the territory of Commonwealth of Independent States. But at a joint news conference after the talks the two Presidents made assurances that the cooperation between Georgia and Moldova is not directed against Russia.

“We have no desire to create alliances against Russia. It would have been a very foolish [decision to do so],” the Georgian President said; however he added that Georgia and Moldova are independent states and “it is high time to forget about those kinds of relations which existed during Soviet times.”

In his comments regarding the upcoming elections in Moldova, President Saakashvili was also making clear hints about Russia’s role in the election process in post-Soviet states.    

“People of a sovereign state should not make decisions under the dictates of some foreign political forces. No one will welcome this… We are very upset when we witness direct pressure on election campaigns. These people who are intimidating and practicing blackmail, have already ‘broken their necks’ [the phrase is commonly used in Russian to describe a ‘failure’]. They have broken their necks in Ukraine; they have broken their necks in Georgia. I don’t know how many necks they have?” President Saakashvili added.

“These people should calm down and understand that their time has already gone. Now the world is for relationships between states which are based on equal rights, where all nations have their rights wherein no one can dictate other nations how to develop, whom to elect,” Saakashvili said.

He also said that democratic elections in Moldova will pave the way for Chisinau’s European integration. “Soon there will be very important elections. These elections will largely determine the future development of Moldova. After the elections, when they are recognized by the entire world as free and democratic, absolute new prospects will open for Moldova and the entire region in regards to European integration issues,” the Georgian President said.