Levan Gachechiladze, Giorgi Gigineishvili, Levan Gigineishvili, Irakli Iashvili, Zaza Nishnianidze, Irakli Rukhadze send open letter to US President Joseph Biden

Levan Gachechiladze, Giorgi Gigineishvili, Levan Gigineishvili, Irakli Iashvili, Zaza Nishnianidze and Irakli Rukhadze sent an open letter to US President Joseph Biden.

“The President of the United States of America

His Excellency Mr. Joseph Biden,

Mr. President!

Firstly, we the undersigned, express our deepest respect to you and the United States of America!

We are Georgians who love our country dearly and hope for it to remain free, peaceful, democratic and continue to prosper. The citizens of Georgia have learned the price of peace and freedom.

We have survived and continue to survive in this turmoiled geopolitical region; a small country, located at the edge of great empires. Greece, Rome, Persia, Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, Iran and Russia have fought for control over us for several millennia. We have risen from the ashes time and time again. For 70 years, we were part of the communist Soviet Union – one of the most oppressive states in modern history. Many of our neighbours perished, while we have managed to keep our language along with our national and cultural identity. This identity is expressed in our traditions, sense of homeland and ways of life, but at the same time embraces modernity.

We have protected our Christian faith for 17 centuries. During challenging times, faith has been vital to our survival. That said, we are a country where Georgians, Armenians, Azeris, Russians and other nationalities live together peacefully. Here, you can find a mosque, synagogue, Gregorian and Georgian orthodox churches existing harmoniously next to each-other. We are very proud of our tolerance and would like to co-exist peacefully with our neighbours.

33 years ago, after a long break, we started shaping our destiny as an independent country. Although our path has been rocky, as a nation, we overwhelmingly agree that our future lies with Europe and the Western, democratic world.

During the last 12 years, we have had a democratically elected government that has maintained peace over the longest period in modern Georgian history. Peace, together with people-oriented government policies, has enabled us to achieve significant economic growth and receive high rankings by the western rating agencies on freedom, democracy, human development, corruption, crime, economic outlook, and many other indexes. These Western agencies rank Georgia higher than many EU countries and highest among the current and former members of the CIS.

These achievements would have been impossible without steadfast support from the US and the EU since the day of our independence. Support that we are grateful for and value greatly.

Under the stewardship of the current government, we have become an associated member of the EU, signed visa liberalisation and free trade agreements with the EU and finally became an EU candidate state. When tragic events unfolded in Ukraine, we stood and voted with the Ukrainians at every forum where Georgia had an opportunity to show its support in the UN and other international bodies. While supporting our Ukrainian brothers and sisters with humanitarian aid, Georgia also went to great length to eschew military involvement. Likewise, Georgia applied economic sanctions against Russia selectively, to protect its economy.

The current government has achieved all the above, while remaining committed to democracy, rule of law, free speech, unprecedented freedom of press and fundamental human rights. These commitments are in stark contrast with actions of the previous government (currently the main opposition party) who committed egregious human rights abuses, arrested just under 10% of the country’s population and closed independent media outlets.

It is, therefore, very disappointing to see that the US and EU offer overt political and financial support to the Georgian opposition. Declarations from the US Senate, Congress and the State Department, resolutions coming out of the EU accuse the ruling party of abandoning the democratic values and turning from the Western course. Threats have been made to sanction the country and its officials and to withdraw visa-free regimes to name a few. Funds earmarked for Georgia’s development are redirected towards opposition parties, their media outlets and NGOs; NGOs that are often run by the partisan political actors and have spread biased views about the true state of affairs.

The Western rhetoric against our Church and our way of life intensifies day by day, leaving us wondering what we, the citizens of this country have done wrong.

Critics of the current government repeatedly point to the recent Law on Transparency. It has been dubbed a “Russian” law. Opposition media outlets and Western-funded NGOs claimed that once the law came into effect, they would be closed and the parliamentary elections, that are less than a week away, would proceed without an alternative voice, supervision and monitoring. These sentiments were widely shared by the Western diplomats in Georgia. The new law has been operational for months already and while we can argue about the necessity of it, we are happy to point out that not one media outlet, nor any NGO has been targeted by using this law, against all the previous predictions.

We kindly request that you base your assessment of Georgia on actual achievements and refrain from solely relying on information disseminated by several NGOs and opposition media that mainly emphasise fear-based predictions of what could go wrong in the future.

We value the friendship between our nations that has been tested by our sacrifices in International Missions. We believe that friendships and partnerships require constant care and nurture.

Mr. President, we are asking for your support to help our small nation to hold elections free from outside threats and interference and to leave it to us, the Georgian citizens to shape our own destiny. A destiny that will hopefully bring Georgia closer to Europe and the West.

Sincerely,

Levan Gachechiladze
Giorgi Gigineishvili
Levan Gigineishvili
Irakli Iashvili
Zaza Nishnianidze
Irakli Rukhadze ”, the letter said