Today is the 9th of April.
I would like to address the representatives of the Georgian Armed Forces regarding this date, before we pay tribute to the memorial of the victims of April 9th.
I would like to address and talk to you about the existence of our nation, about the essence of our battle and on how we see our role in this process.
There are many nations in the world. There are nations which easily take being defeated, being deprived of freedom.
We are not this kind of nation.
There are nations whose principal slogan is: “Where it is no better – it is better to back away…”
We are not a nation like that.
There are nations, which prefer their own children to become almost “heroes” in service and subordination to foreign nations, empires. In this case “heroes” are considered those who better win the hearts of conquerors, who help ease the task of destroying and obliterating their own country – such nations do exist.
We are not a nation like that.
There are nations who prefer to be in a cage and feed from the hand of the conqueror that is against freedom.
We are not a nation like that.
Many nations and many of our conquerors have made mistakes with respect to Georgia throughout history.
Mainly, foreigners made these mistakes, but there have also been some Georgians among them.
There can be people found in history, who see their own future in belonging to and serving the empire, their success in serving the foreigner, who imagine the pursuit of their career only under its boots and search for the guarantees only for the well being of their own families.
Such people believe in the idea of subordination of our country and resist the idea of freedom for Georgia.
The entire history of our nation is all about the battle between the ideas of freedom and subordination.
There will always be Georgians and foreigners who will try to overwhelm us with the idea of subordination.
And there are Georgians, who fight for the idea of freedom.
Let us ask ourselves on this very date, April 9th – why do we exist today as a nation? Why have we come here? How did we manage to survive, such a small country among such numerous enemies? How did we manage to keep our language, culture, faith, our identity? And finally, how did we manage to have our independence, nationhood and statehood?
The answer is simple – our history has provided the answer.
In the battle between the ideas of subordination and freedom in Georgia, the idea of freedom has always prevailed.
Even in the most critical times in our history, when the idea of freedom seemed to be doomed, large groups of Georgians or single Georgians would always emerge who proudly waved the flag of freedom, independence and future.
Generations had been raised in Georgia towards the end of the 80s in slavery and service of a foreign country; they could not imagine their existence otherwise.
When they came in with their army in April 1989, their main advice towards the fighters for the idea of freedom was not to resist them, to stay in their houses, not to come out and carry on living as they used to.
Despite the hopeless situation, despite the use of tanks, shovels, poison gas, our young people have not retreated even at the expense of their lives.
They have proved that the idea of freedom is the most powerful idea in our city, in our country and that it will always prevail in the end.
This idea is much more powerful than any tanks, any cannons, and any guns.
April 9th was not the last tragedy in our history.
There was Abkhazia and other provocations since then; later-there was the 2008 August war, where much more people fell than on April 9th.
There were Georgians in 2008, who were similarly faithful to the idea of subordination; Georgians who had hid and stayed quiet; but there were hundreds of thousands of people who gathered before this building in front of the entire world (Georgians, who think that this was only a show, do not understand anything, as they understood nothing back then and hid).
It was the pinnacle of people’s sentiment, the sign that we would not bow to the challenge and threat. Yet, we all knew that the order to bomb this meeting was issued.
We did indeed know that the leader of the occupant was boasting in those days, including in front of foreign leaders: “My rockets are targeting the meeting in front of the Parliament, in Tbilisi and we will blow up the leaders of the meeting and the members of the government of Georgia into the air.”
Despite this, people have not abandoned and retreated.
2008 had been a huge defeat for them.
Yet, Georgia will finally prevail when it will liberate its own territories once and for all.
The enemy, which was accustomed to complete subordination and crippled nations like cardboard houses not only by their invading army but even by the sign of it, saw that we had built new villages instead of the temporarily deprived ones. Although it is true that it does not allow our people into their own lands, we are building new cities; it uses all possible means – embargos, attacks, threats, provocations and tries to avert Georgia off its path, but our country is developing ever faster.
It is for the first time in many centuries in the Caucasus that Georgia has created something that no one could possibly imagine – a multiethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural modern state.
For them it was very easy to control us – one ethnic group would go after another, one religious group would confront the other and so on…Because of that, they thought that the Caucasus would never be able to create a modern state. Because of that, the Caucasus was the easiest region to control for them.
This is the very idea that the modern Georgia is obliterating.
This is the idea that the enemies of our statehood and those wishing Georgian subordination are fighting against.
Those who come out against religious tolerance in Georgia today, against cooperation with all ethnic groups, directly serve the enemy of Georgia!
Those who try to instigate religious hatred in Georgia today, directly serve the enemy of Georgia!
I state this boldly as this is how the enemy had ruled us for centuries.
If anyone preaches inequality among the citizens in Georgia today, the separation of citizens into different layers – into rich and poor, privileged and non-privileged, into the representatives of certain cities or its centers and residents of villages, then he serves the enemy of Georgia, as this is how the enemy had always ruled us.
It was important for them, for the idea of statehood, not to be popular among the population of Georgia.
The one who comes out against the idea of the Georgian Army today, including the idea of Georgian reservists, directly serves the enemy of Georgia and the Georgian people know it all too well.
50,000 people have signed up for the reserves program in Georgia just in the last 9 months and this number will reach 100,000 by summer.
Not including the enlisted reservists, I am talking about volunteer reservists - those Georgians who want to defend their own city, districts, villages, micro-districts or buildings. These people demand from us training and weapons for this.
It is not a whim of a political party of any other group.
These people have various political views, belong to different religions and different ethnic groups, but for them the idea of Georgian statehood is equally precious.
I am proud that together with our army these people, reservists have been established in Georgia as well.
There was a time, when the enemy was ravaging one part of Georgia, while every restaurant in Tbilisi was full of cheerful and partying people. I have seen things like that as well. We should never find ourselves in such a position again.
There was a time when the same several hundred people would give their lives to the idea of independence for Georgia, as were the Cadets, who have fallen precisely on this spot, while other Georgians would wave the flag of the conqueror or march upfront to conquer Georgia. We should never find ourselves in such a position again.
This is the very difference between a statehood oriented society and those who share the idea of subordination.
I visited the Georgian-Russian border today. You all know it too well what is the inspiration of the “Mother of Kartli” – She holds a bowl in one hand and the sword in the other”.
We are an exceptionally hospitable nation and are glad to receive all guests.
In fact, Russian citizens were entering through this border today, including the Caucasians, and when I greeted them some of them told me: “You should also come to us; we would also receive you with pleasure in our country, in our city”.
They have said this but they understood that it is impossible today.
At that moment I once again saw the tragedy of the situation. For them, the Caucasians, Georgia is the embodiment of the many century long dream – the dream of the creation of a modern state in the Caucasus, where priority is given not to any specific ethnic group or religion, but to the idea of equality; that every person is equal and free, everyone travels freely, communicates freely, governs their own country and is the ruler of their own destiny.
The essence of the Russian Empire fundamentally contravenes the nature of the Caucasians – just as we are a hospitable nation, just as warmly they want to receive us.
One of them has said to me: “It is a shame that we do not have visa free travel for Georgians”. This too, is of course temporary, as nothing can stop our nature or our instinct for freedom.
One local resident has also greeted us today in Stefantsminda, quite an elderly person and I quote what he said, this certainly are not my words: “One can still find bastards today, who say that our only problem is Saakashvili” and said: “ I will pick up a gun myself, as soon as the Russians come here with guns”.
God forbid our country ever falls in the hands of Russia, a foreign occupant again.
This Mokhevian, a resident of the gorge, that of Kazbegi, is a direct descendent of Lelt Gunia – the one who dreamed: “We should belong to ourselves”.
He spoke these words to Ilia Chavchavadze, while Ilia was a figure in the conquered Georgia, who tried at least on the level of consciousness to recollect the dissipated Georgian identity and dissipated Georgian mentality.
We are all descendants of Ilia today, though we hold a thousand times more powerful weapon than he did – he held a pen, bankers and clerks in his hands, while we hold not only the idea, but also the materialized, rooted reality of the Georgian statehood.
I have been assured of this today, once again, on the Georgian-Russian border.
As hospitable a nation we Georgians are, and everyone knows us as such, we are just as relentless in the fight for our freedom and independence.
We have gotten a taste of the idea of independence; a taste of success, which one achieves in the conditions of peace.
Certainly, our history did not start in 2003 (some accuse us of thinking this way).
I personally have been raised in a family in which many generations have sacrificed themselves for the fight for the independence of Georgia.
There was a TV show yesterday about Mikhako Tsereteli, one of the leaders of the fight for Georgia’s independence. I have been hearing Mkhako Tsereteli’s name since childhood and had been raised like this, as he had been a very close relative of ours. It was even prohibited to mention his name then, yet he was an icon in our family.
Many members of my family devoted themselves to the fight for Georgia’s independence and of course, it was passed on to us from generation to generation.
Of course, our history did not start in 2003, but the period from 1989 to 2003 was the uninterrupted period of discrediting the idea of Georgian statehood.
The state had neither managed to provide electricity, education, a basic feeling of protection, nor the growth of wellbeing. Only a handful of people prospered from all of this.
Everything was done then in order for the Georgian nation to have said: “If this is freedom, then we no more care about it. If everything is being done for only a handful of people who do not care about the ideals of statehood (the majority of which are, in fact, still serving the empire) what meaning does such freedom have?”
The Rose revolution in 2003 had brought a different thing.
The cycle of uninterrupted success of the Georgian state has started since the “Rose Revolution”.
Today’s generation of Georgia has understood what freedom means and not only us, but everyone around us has seen it.
Those Caucasians who are entering from the Lars check point are seeing it; the Ukrainians, Moldovans, our neighbors, the nations of Central Asia and the majority of the occupants’ society are seeing it as well.
The Empire had retreated in 1989 because there were some intelligent people living in Russia as well.
I very well remember Anatoly Sobchak, whom I even met and had a very warm relationship with.
I well remember many other Russian figures that had rang the alarm bell after what had happened here.
The Russian government had done everything imaginable afterward for Georgia to have been hated in Russia. Given the authoritarian control, this is certainly possible.
The 2008 war was made possible only as the result of the brainwashing of people for many years that served to perceive Georgia as their enemy.
The entire world stood with us in 2008.
The leaders of six leading countries of Europe stood with us at the meeting, which was being targeted by the rockets.
Today the Russian Empire and its proxies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the West – the U.S.A., Europe, so they will not help Georgia anymore, but of course they cannot achieve anything, not because the authority of Georgia is much greater today, but because of the fact that public opinion with regard to Georgia is shifting towards the better even within Russia.
That is what we need the opened borders for. That is why we need to develop more cultural exchange, to conduct more dialogue with those people, whose relatives, members of their family, might have perhaps killed our sisters and brothers; their family members might be destroying the lands and houses of the displaced Georgians in Abkhazia or the Tskhinvali region, but this situation is temporary, as it is unnatural.
We will surely find a common language with that society.
They want freedom just as much as we do and as we are a nation that has already obtained freedom, they as never before understand and have grasped the idea that freedom can thrive even in the most hopeless situations.
That is why today’s date is very important for us.
I would like to decorate many of you and say that one of the important things we have done recently is that Georgia has created a military industry.
Who would have imagined that Georgia could ever create a high technological industry?
Of course the proverb “show me the poverty, and I will show you where to run”, is not true in our case – we were exposed to poverty, there was a period when we were in an extremely difficult position in terms of buying defensive weaponry, but we did not run away. Instead we tried our best and demonstrated that being a Georgian is not secondary to intellect or the ability to work effectively. We are not lazy and perhaps we can even do it better than many others can.
We have created two excellent vehicles and tomorrow we will be testing, for the first time, the high technological unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and we are also intending to create many technological products, which will be manufactured by the Georgian Military and Georgian engineers.
I would like to decorate the designers of the exclusively Georgian made products “Didgori” and “Lazika”, and those who contributed to the development of the armed forces with “State Awards”.
Thank you very much.