GEORGIA-GOVERNMENT Georgia's pro-West foreign minister quits, coalition faces crisis

Record ID: 643489

  • Title: GEORGIA-GOVERNMENT Georgia's pro-West foreign minister quits, coalition faces crisis
  • Date: 5th November 2014
  • Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (NOVEMBER 4, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** IRAKLY ALASANIA, DISMISSED AS DEFENCE MINISTER BY PRIME MINISTER, IRAKLY GARIBASHVILI, WALKING PAST MEDIA AND INTO BUILDING ALASANIA WALKING TO PODIUM AHEAD OF NEWS CONFERENCE WHERE HE CRITICISES CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST HIGH-RANKING DEFENCE MINISTRY OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) GEORGIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, IRAKLY ALASANIA, SAYING: "All of this makes me suspect that we are dealing with a deliberate attack against the Defence Ministry, which is a direct link in our country's chain with NATO and the European Union. It regards our country's political orientation and its future, and that's why I've decided to make this statement and will call on the political council of our ruling coalition to meet and discuss where these events and the prosecutor's office will lead our country. I want to clearly state that this is an attack on Georgia's Euro-Atlantic choice." ALASANIA WALKING OUT AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4RF39B45VKOIDSG6ESI1RRETS
  • Story Text: Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze resigned on Wednesday (November 5), over what she called threats to the ex-Soviet republic's pro-Western policies, deepening a crisis in the coalition government.
    A junior minister overseeing integration with Europe also quit, a day after Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili fired his Western-leaning defence minister and one of the six parties in the ruling Georgian Dream coalition threatened to pull out.
    The Free Democrats' departure would strip the coalition of a majority in parliament, increasing political instability in the country of 4.5 million which is crossed by pipelines that carry Caspian oil and gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
    Defence Minister Irakly Alasania had irked Garibashvili by saying on Tuesday (November 4) the arrests of several officials in his ministry were politically motivated and intended to undermine supporters of better relations with the West.
    "We are dealing with a deliberate attack against the Defence Ministry, which is a direct link in our country's chain with NATO and the European Union," he told reporters.
    "I want to clearly state that this is an attack on Georgia's Euro-Atlantic choice," he said, referring to Georgia's stated interest in joining NATO and its recent trade deal with the European Union.
    Garibashvili announced Alasania's dismissal late on Tuesday, calling the defence minister's remarks "irresponsible".
    "In order to avoid politicisation of the Georgian armed forces and of the Georgian Defence Ministry and in order to provide relevant conditions for an independent investigation, I have decided to dismiss the defence minister," Garibashvili said at a news conference.
    "Alasania's irresponsible statement that this investigation into the ministry is an attack on the country's Euro-Atlantic choice is completely irresponsible. I want to reiterate once again what I've said multiple times already - that our country's Euro-Atlantic integration is the choice of not only our government, but the choice of our people too, and this process is and will be irreversible," he added.
    Alexy Petriashvili, state minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, tendered his resignation by letter to Garibashvili, carrying out an earlier promise. He is also a member of the Free Democrats.
    Giving brief remarks at a news conference on Wednesday, Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze, announced four deputy foreign ministers were quitting with her.
    "We have decided to quit our posts, and I have also decided to quit the Georgian Dream coalition," she said.
    "The country's European and Euro-Atlantic course, Georgia's European future, is our people's choice. That's what people supported in the 2012 election. My team, those people, who could implement and were responsible for implementation of this goal, cannot betray the Georgian people's choice and hide the threats that our country faces now," she said without giving any details.
    Alasania's Free Democrats party is expected to decide later on Wednesday whether to follow suit and leave the government, a move that would jeopardise its majority in parliament. Panjikidze is not a member of the Free Democrats but was one of the most pro-Western members of the government.
    The tensions in the coalition highlight Georgia's difficulties trying to pursue its goals of joining NATO and the European Union without antagonising its former Soviet overlord Moscow, with which Tbilisi fought a five-day war in 2008.
    Georgia signed an agreement with the EU in June which deepened political and trade ties and has long been a U.S. ally, but relations with Moscow are strained and Tbilisi has watched carefully as the crisis in Ukraine unfolded.
    Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March and still occupies the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, over which the countries went to war in 2008.
    Garibashvili said Mindia Janelidze, secretary of a council overseeing security, will replace Alasania as defence minister.
    Alasania's Free Democrats have 10 of the coalition's 83 seats in the 150-seat parliament. Its departure could make it reliant on independent deputies for a majority but a confidence vote must be called only if seven or more of the 20 cabinet members are replaced.
    President Georgy Margvelashvili says the crisis poses "a threat to the efficient functioning" of state institutions and to Georgia's quest for Euro-Atlantic integration.
    Western countries have expressed concern that the Georgian Dream government, first formed under billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in 2012, has persecuted political opponents and used selective justice against them.
    Dozens of ex-officials, including a former prime minister, defence and interior minister and the mayor of the capital Tbilisi, have been arrested on charges such as abuse of power and corruption since the coalition came to power.
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