Issue no: 987 • OCTOBER 6 - 9, 2017 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50 In this week’s issue... FOCUS ON THE FALL OF SOKHUMI A look at then and now...PAGE 4,6 Georgia Supports Sovereignty & Territorial Integrity of Spain NEWS PAGE 3 Headaches in Abkhazia POLITICS PAGE 9 Russia Makes Turkmenistan Proposals in Oil & Gas BUSINESS PAGE 10 German Embassy Marks 27th Anniversary of Unifi cation of Germany Photo by Mike Goldwater SOCIETY PAGE 15 Textile from Georgia - New Album on Tbilisoba Kicks off This Weekend Georgian BY NINO GUGUNISHVILI Costume Published he two-day annual celebration of CULTURE PAGE 19 Tbilisoba (Tbilisi Day), fi rst held in October 1979, this year starts on Sat- urday October 7 in various locations throughout the capital. TThe program announced by Tbilisi City hall begins at 12PM on Saturday, and is to offer guests a plethora of activities: from pavilions representing the capitals twinned with Tbilisi set up in Europe Square, a fair and exhibition of classic and new cars on Metekhi Bridge, to children’s culinary classes, archeology for chil- in New Tifl is until 9PM. numerous concerts during the Tbilisi City Fest, dren and quizzes to be held in the New Tifl is, A festival of sweets and master-classes from with and City Hall’s Big Band concert alongside Agmashenebeli area and a kite festival and famous chefs is promised for the New Tifl is area, dance performances, and electronic music con- master-classes for little ones in Rike Park. Adults and a fruit festival is to be held on Sioni Street. certs by DJ Ericsson, DJ Sumo, and DJ Third. can enjoy a festival of Georgian wine on day Along with the packed program of culinary and The traditional awards ceremony for honorary one of the festival from 12 to 10 PM, visit an wine tasting events, a photo exhibition, fl ower citizens of the capital, followed by a concert, is exhibition of Georgian produce, and attend a show and sports activities during the weekend, to be held in the Abanotubani district on October costume performance with musicians and actors music lovers will also get a chance to attend 8, to round up Tbilisoba 2017. GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS OCTOBER 6 - 9, 2017 Georgia Denounces Syrian Delegation’s Visit to Photo: Syrian delegation meets “Foreign Ministry” representatives of breakaway Abkhazia Breakaway Abkhazia Source: Apsnypress. occupied Sokhumi on October 3. Abkhazian news BY THEA MORRISON agency Apsnypress reports that the delegation had a meeting with the de facto foreign Minister of Abkhazia, Daur Kove, who welcomed the Syrian he Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia delegation and expressed content that mutual rela- (MFA) has denounced the recent visit of tionships have been developed. a Syrian delegation to Georgia’s Russian- “We are glad that Abkhazian-Syrian relations have occupied region of Abkhazia, claiming developed dynamically this year. We cooperate in that the visit is a continuation of Russia’s different fi elds. The current situation in Syria con- Tprovocative policy and its occupation regimes. cerns us," he said. “Russia is trying to legitimize its attempts to force The Syrian delegation was led by Sanah Abo Zaid, changes to the borders of a sovereign state and who noted that there are good prospects for devel- widespread ethnic cleansing of Georgians. This oping ties between the two sides. visit is part of that policy,” the ministry stressed, The delegation of Syria was also hosted by the the “Ministry of Economy” is preparing a draft The so-called Abkhazian Ministry stated that the adding that one of the most important priorities so called president of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba. agreement with the Syrian Arab Republic on the Syrian authorities had expressed interest in devel- of the Georgian government is consistent imple- “It is important to restore justice…The West and duty-free trade regime between the countries. oping trade and economic cooperation with the mentation of the non-recognition policy. the Americans are trying to infl uence world pro- “Our main task is to create favorable conditions “Republic” and received its representatives as a “The Foreign Ministry reacts immediately to the cesses. This is unacceptable both for Syria and for for developing businesses in both countries,” Ardz- friendly “state.” attempts of the occupation regimes to establish those who want to live peacefully," Khajimba said. inba said. Since the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, illegal contacts with representatives of foreign The de facto president added that Abkhazians Prior the visit of the Syrian delegation to Sokhumi, Russia has recognized the independence of Abk- countries,” the statement of the ministry reads. support the position of the leadership of Syria. the “Abkhazian delegation” paid a visit to Syria. hazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia. Communication was held with international part- The Syrian delegation also held meetings with The de facto MFA of Abkhazia reported that the In total, only four countries recognize Georgia’s ners with regard to the so-called visit. the de facto ministers of occupied Abkhazia. delegation of the “Republic of Abkhazia” held breakaway regions as independent republics: Rus- The parliamentary delegation of Syria arrived in “Economy Minister” Adgur Ardzinba stated that various meetings in Syria in August. sia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru. Saakashvili Asks for Asylum in Ukraine President & Parliamentary Majority The State Immigration Service of Ukraine has yet to respond to Saakashvili’s request. Discuss Constitutional Changes Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Justice Ministry stated they will make a decision on the ex-president’s extradi- tion to Georgia after relevant checks. “The Justice Ministry will make the fi nal decision depending on the relevant materials. Politics has nothing to do with the issue at all,” Ukrainian Jus- tice Minister Pavel Petrenko stated. Saakashvili was the third president of Georgia from 2004-2007 and again in 2008-2013. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko granted BY THEA MORRISON Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship in May 2015, when appointing him as the Governor of Odessa. In December 2015, Georgian authorities stripped fter returning to Ukraine, ex-President Saakashvili of Georgian citizenship as dual citizen- of Georgia and former Governor of ship is not allowed in Georgia. Ukraine’s Odessa Oblast, Mikheil In November 2016, Saakashvili quit his post and Saakashvili, has requested asylum in formed an opposition party and was seen heavily Ukraine on the grounds of “a person criticizing the Ukrainian authorities, which led to and expressed willingness to continue holding BY THEA MORRISON Ain need of special protection,” which in turn stops a disagreement between Poroshenko and the ex- consultations with all political forces if necessary. him being extradited to another country. Georgian President. The sides discussed key changes which are to The information was released by Saakashvili’s Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian be made to the newly-adopted constitution. lawyer Markian Galabala. citizenship in July. he scheduled meeting between the The Head of the Administration of the President, “After the issue of the decree on terminating After losing his Ukrainian citizenship, Saakashvili Georgian President and the Parlia- Giorgi Abashishvili, assessed the meeting as “inter- Saakashvili’s citizenship, he automatically acquired returned to Ukraine on September 10, with the help mentary majority Georgian Dream esting and constructive.” the status of ‘a person without citizenship perma- of his supporters, who broke through the line of (GD) was held on October 4 at the He said conversation mainly touched upon the nently residing in Ukraine,’ and, in line with Ukrain- security forces and pulled Saakashvili from neutral Presidential Palace. two topics that are included in the constitutional ian law, the extradition of such persons is prohib- territory between Poland and Ukraine, and onto TThe President’s Press Offi ce reports that Marg- amendments: abolition of a bonus system and ited,” he said. Ukrainian territory. velashvili emphasized the necessity of consensus allowing the formation of election blocks for the October 21 elections. “The President places special emphasis on reach- ing a consensus on the constitutional issues, fi nd- ing common viewpoints, and reaching all-encom- passing agreement on the Constitution; therefore, in the days to come, the President and his team will spare no efforts to fi nd common grounds to reach a consensus. If necessary, meetings will be held with everyone, including the ruling political party,” Abashishvili stated. Margvelashvili offered the Georgian Dream and other political parties the chance to meet and discuss the Constitution last week. The President has already met with representatives of about 20 political parties to discuss the same topic. However, Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairperson of the GD faction, says the president has not made a fi nal decision over the two issues. “It is up to the President. He must decide whether to refl ect these two issues in his notes or not. If this is not taken into consideration, we will natu- rally try to override the veto," Mdinaradze said, adding the President said that in a few days he will make his fi nal decision. The parliament adopted the constitutional draft with its third and fi nal reading on September 26 by 117 votes. The GD has 116 MPs in the 150-mem- ber parliament. The ruling party wants to make changes to the constitution following the Venice Commission’s preliminary report on the issue. The GD initiative includes abolition of a bonus system and allowing the formation of election blocks this year. The amendments envisage moving to a classical parliamentary model. They also imply moving to full proportional election system from 2024, instead of the previously promised 2020. The president and the opposition disagree with the majority over the latter. GEORGIA TODAY OCTOBER 6 - 9, 2017 NEWS 3 Georgian Political Parties Criticize Alliance of Patriots for Second Visit to Moscow cussed the need for restoration of bilat- eral relations between Russia and Geor- gia and also about the functioning of a railway system via Abkhazia,” he added.