A Thousand Years Ago...

In Constantinople the fate of Georgia is decided - Basili Caesar takes advantage of David Kurapalati’s death and takes over his land.

November 19, 1999

A Photo taken at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul shows the presidents of leading nations awaiting the President of Georgia’s confirmation, by signature, of the decision which will have such a profound impact on the future.

Looking at the picture, I recall the event with almost photographic precision and I am prompted to remember the path taken since Shevatrdnadze’s return.

April 17, 1992

Shevardnadze created a confidential working group that included Vazha Lordkipanidze, Tedo Japaridze, and myself. It was to this very group that the Head of State first confided the subject of the Eurasian transport corridor and Georgia’s new role and function within this prism and proposed a plan of action.

It is worth recalling the time when all this was happening. Shevardnadze had just returned to Georgia, a statesman of international stature, who instead of accepting pleas from the international arena for his expertise, turned without hesitation toward his home country. Georgia broken, devastated, embroiled in internal strife, and desperate. The country had been looted, overrun by bandits, fallen into economic and political chaos and was isolated from the world.

What else but a special sense of mission could have prompted Shevardnadze to enlist us to begin thinking of ways to create a strategic role for a country like Georgia was in those days? Later, when the first steps were taken in this direction, public opinion was taking shape - and it was sceptical. Even his supporters regarded it as unbelievable as a dream. But, then, events began to evolve at a giddy pace.

Outside the country, qualitatively new relations were being forged with neighbouring states. Georgia won the information war, world renowned personalities such as Hans Dietrich Genscher, James Baker, Georgia Schultz, John Shalikashvili made the risky trip to visit Georgia. This demonstrated not only friendship and support to the Head of State, but that they concurred with Shevardnadze’s vision of the future. Georgia joined the UN, the Council of Europe and many other international organisations. The world’s leading nations began to talk about Georgia’s strategic role within the context of the global architecture.

Meanwhile, inside our borders, stability emerged and we adopted a new constitution, introduced a new currency, the Georgian Parliament began to build a legislative framework based on Western principles. The new thinking of those who came to power resulted in vitally important reforms being launched.

All this happened against a backdrop of the old, outdated system resisting the inevitable loss of power and influence.

The fifth column launched open aggression with a series of terrorist attacks, which failed by a miracle.  If a bomb had exploded one-tenth of a second earlier, or a missile had been fired a tenth of a second later, Shevardnadze might have gone the same way as so many other great leaders have.

The enemy received results opposite those which they had intended. These attacks were a kind of recognition of Shevardnadze’s role, and his significance to the world.

Let me add one more sketch of this profile.

He responded to one of these attacks by creating an international event, the UNESCO Dialogue of Cultures.

That is how it all began.

No matter how strange it might seem, all this happened within a brief span of Georgia’s history, eight years.

In this chronology, I skipped dates and events which are directly linked to the GIOC because I want to dwell on them in a somewhat more detailed fashion.
In 1992, as I mentioned earlier, the idea of the Eurasian Corridor began in earnest. This began by initiating a partnership with the Azeri State Oil Company, international companies and financial institutions, the issuing of those first guarantees of the Georgian Head of State to foreign companies. All this was based on faith and enthusiasm, and one more thing - the singular skill of Shevardnadze to create around himself an aura where even the most unbelievable idea can seem within the realm of possibility. How does he manage it? With vision and iron logic.

Alarmed by the prospect of losing Georgia, reactionary forces expressed their dissatisfaction by means of naked aggression. Analysts almost universally linked the attempts on his life to the Western route of the Caspian crude. The word of Shevardnadze carried the weight of millions in investment and Georgia’s very survival.
But what can accurately weigh his international reputation? What can be the real value of his word? The answer came in...

October 9, 1995

Azeri President Heidar Aliev informed his friends in a letter that a decision had been taken on the construction of the Western route, Baku - Supsa.

November 6, 1995

Following the Presidential election, the first document signed by Shevardnadze as President was his decree on the creation of the Georgian International Oil Corporation in which he stressed “It shall be a western-type company, based on internationally acknowledged principles of open and transparent work, and whose purpose, in addition to the transport of oil from the Caspian basin, is to be a worthy partner to Western oil companies. We must demonstrate to the world that Georgia is capable of implementing a project of such proportions by Western standards.” This is how GIOC began, or to be more precise, a small team of enthusiasts started from scratch, having never before been involved in a project of that magnitude. There was no legal infrastructure - only the will and support of the president, which GIOC always felt at the most critical moment of its work. Consequently, we felt the responsibility we had to the people, and the President of Georgia.

Our first years of hard work were crowned on April 17, 1999 when the Supsa oil terminal was inaugurated, and the transport of Caspian crude to the West commenced. For Georgia, this meant a serious political, economic and intellectual test had been passed. It was Georgia’s first step toward establishing an internationally strategic function. For the world, it meant Georgia would be a serious player in the great projects of the 21st Century.

During the process of constructing the western pipeline, attempts were made  (for obvious reasons) at reducing the significance of this project and to create the wrong impression of our work. First it was argued that there was no wealth of oil in the Caspian. Then, no one believed that anyone would actually lay a pipeline across Georgia. It was said that to continue would inevitably irritate certain forces that would be better left alone. That Georgia would be strangled by the terms of the project. That Supsa would cause an environmental catastrophe in the Black Sea and should be closed. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

No longer can these things be argued. In addition to those elements of the project already operating, other things have taken shape as a direct result of the political course first established by the President. Last year, Georgia became part of the great European family as it acceded to the Council of Europe. Every one of us can declare “I am Georgian, therefore I am European.”

November, 1999

The signing of the official documents in Istanbul was a milestone in our history. They stipulated that Georgia will be included in the implementation of two major strategic projects of the 21st Century, Baku-Ceyhan main export pipeline and Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, and that Georgia would be a fully fledged, trustworthy partner of the world’s leading nations.

The notions of ‘early’ and ‘late’ are not as important in politics as that of ‘timeliness.’ That is, it depends on who said what, and when. At the beginning of the 90s, President Shevardnadze put these ideas on the agenda, thereby returning to his country a strategic function and guaranteeing an independent statehood.

And this happened because the world trusted a man who had changed the world. And finally, I want to quote the words from the US President Clinton on the occasion of the opening of the Supsa Terminal, “We could not have reached today’s historic milestone without the leadership of Presidents Eduard Shevardnadze and Heidar Aliev, the patience and prolonged efforts of the people and governments of Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the skill and prowess of the many energy companies participating in this project.

Now our attention moves from early oil to a longer pipeline from Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean coast at Ceyhan. This main export pipeline is the key to unlocking the true economic potential of the east-west corridor. In this next phase, through continued co-operation and goodwill, we will take new strides together, working toward a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future.”

P.S. On the day of the opening, the idea occurred to me that April was somehow special to the President. Why?

April 14, 1978

This day became a public celebration in Georgia, when at considerable risk, Shevardnadze defended the Georgian language and the will of his people and made the enraged Empire retreat.

April 17, 1992

The President created a working group beginning the work toward establishing the Eurasian Corridor.

April 17, 1999

Baku Supsa early oil pipeline came into service - the first project of international strategic merit.

April 9, 2000

Presidential elections will take place in Georgia.
 
 

April, indeed, seems to be the President’s month.