Interview with
Gela Charkviani,
Assistant to the President of Georgia
on International Affairs

It is common knowledge that you were born to the family of the Communist Party leader. Yet by virtue of your activities in the Soviet period, people always regarded you as an advocate of the western values and lifestyles. Do you attribute that to your family, profession or your worldview?
 
However paradoxical it may sound it was largely caused by the fact that my parents took very good care of our education, I mean, the children's education. Namely, they took care that we would get well acquainted with the western literature, philosophy and arts. Also, they did all to have us learn English. Well, all that together was a good basis, or rather, I should say, the recipe for anyone to come to espouse western values. Later, I was greatly affected by my time at the University of Michigan. The period I spent in that most avant-guard of the countries, at the most avant-guard of the times, I mean, the beginning of the 1970s - the time of the youth revolution - did it all. The nightlong discussions with all manner of radicals, Hippies, feminists, neo-Marxists, followers of Herbert Marcuse was an experience that forged my ideology.

More than ten years have passed since those years in the early 90s when Georgia, to quote Merab Mamardashvili, was once again given the chance to “enter history”.  How would you assess Georgia's progress in the past decade?

Georgia has traveled a very long road of transformation over the decade. I would have never imagined that. This is the road from a secret police  based totalitarian dictatorship to a politically super-active free society, from command economy to free enterprise.

It's only now that we have begun to discuss the 'moral terror', the shortage of morality and compassion...

Those ruthless, deadly, libelous remarks, unfortunately, are also part of that very freedom that I have praised. Well, the point is that democracy is a dynamic system based on an equilibrium and therefore it can work well only as long as every component of the system functions normally. This is not the case in Georgia today. It is not until the slanderers are seriously fined by courts, as is the  case in Great Britain and quite a few other countries, that the current practice of the 'moral terror' will stop. It is naive to believe that someone will change, elevate morally or develop some qualms of conscience, for that matter. I do not believe that can happen. Although I do believe in education and future generations, including those of journalists, may be somewhat more ethical than they are today.

September 11th is one of the most tragic days in history. At the same time, it may be regarded as the beginning of a new world order and a
re-evaluation of values....

Well this day has further emphasized the difference between what is black and what is white, what is good and what is evil. There has hardly been any
re-evaluation of values. But there came the realization that the loftiest ideals of humankind, namely the most significant one - freedom has a very serious enemy. Also it became clear that it is not different world civilizations and different religions, Christianity and Islam for example, that are at war with one another as was believed. It is rather the two contrasting mentalities, or the two ways of life that confront one another - one espousing freedom and the other demanding fanatical restrictions. These two ways of life or these two mentalities often exist side by side in one state. The success of the first causes the envy of the other. A Pakistani newspaper editor in his open letter to Osama bin Laden wrote something to the effect that the real jihad is not when you hijack airplanes made by others, but rather when you manufacture better aircraft. I think  these words say a lot. Well, the second important conclusion that one can make following the 11th of September is that very special attention should be paid to the conditions that foster terrorism, or the states of mind that feed it - such as aggressive separatism, blind nationalism and religious fanaticism. Well, it also became clear that today as the planet has shrunk so much largely due to the new communication technologies, it is imperative that we do all to minimize the chasm that has for centuries existed between the poor and rich nations. Little wonder, problems inevitably emerge when the rich and the poor live in the same neighbourhood.

Today, the international community sees Georgia as a bridge  between the west and the east, the north and the south, and a guarantor of stability in the South Caucasus. Is the new stage in the military cooperation between the United States and Georgia a consequence of these new realities?

As I have already said Georgia has traveled a long way from a small obscure nation tired of sanguinary conflicts and rampage of criminals to a pivotal state in the region and an exemplary democracy in many ways. It did not happen by itself. Credit should go to the country's leadership and primarily to the President of Georgia who charted the right course and saw it through in difficult times in one of the toughest regions in the world. During all those years the United States of America has helped Georgia and the Georgian people as we strove to build a democratic society. Gradually the  trust between the nations developed. The assistance of the United States of America has been critical in creating the Georgian border forces - an absolutely indispensable attribute of an independent state. Today we have achieved the level of strategic relationships and this has made it possible for the Americans  to help Georgia in such a sensitive area as is the building of a modern army.

As early as in 1998 President Shevardnadze said: “The New Silk Road is not mere rhetoric... I have no doubt in the crucial importance of the Silk Road for our region and believe that this idea will succeed.” Is the West finally convinced that Georgia has a critical role in allowing the hydrocarbons from Central Asia and the Caspian basin to reach European markets?
 
The practical realization of the Silk Road project is also in many ways the merit of President Shevardnadze. I remember his first  conversations with European officials and I cannot forget those well-founded signs of skepticism in their eyes. The same skepticism must have dimmed the eyes of Luis XIV of France back in the early years of the eighteenth century as he listened to the Georgian diplomat Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani who tried to convince Europeans among other things of the transit potential of Georgia. True, they spoke of silk then, not of hydrocarbons, as the product to be transported. Today the significance of the Silk Road leaves no doubt in anyone. Involved in the practical implementation are many  countries and the European Union itself whose project called TRACECA has become synonymous to the Great Silk Road.

How do you see the future of Georgia's relations with the European Union?

Well this question brings us back to the theme of the road Georgia has traveled. Georgia has always regarded membership in the European Union as its key priority and everything was done over these years to achieve that.  The Coordination Council for the EU-Georgian cooperation, headed by the President himself, has been functioning in Georgia now for more than a year. Much work is done on harmonization of the legislation, the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement has been signed and so on. The  enlargement policy of the European Union has also been developing in such a way that today I practically have no doubt that one day Georgia will achieve its goal. Now all depends on us and if we continue on the same course which has brought us to this notch of development,  we will certainly gain membership in the European Union.

There is a lot of excitement across the planet in anticipation of the World Cup. Who do you support and are you brave enough to make any predictions?

Well if your question had been asked in the earlier times I would have given you a simple answer - Brazil, because the best quality soccer I have seen in my life was vintage Brazilian soccer, that is, of the 60s and 70s of the past century. It harmoniously comprised three indispensable elements. It was highly rational, economical. Execution was perfect in its precision and every player displayed inimitable grace and plastique. No other team has performed so well ever since. I also liked the Dutch of the times of Cruiff and later of the period when Van Basten and Gullit played. Today everyone plays well, everyone is fast, and is technically well-equipped, everyone  plays selflessly. Yet, all of them play the same kind of soccer and for this reason I can hardly name the favorite.