It is great honor for me to meet you.
There are people here who have immensely contributed to the defense capability of Georgia, while some have given up their lives to defend Georgia.
We had promised you several years ago that everyone who had 4 years of service in the armed forces would definitely receive free apartments.
Today, we are all fulfilling this promise together.
Today, we give apartments to commanders; we also give apartments to the family members of soldiers killed and wounded in different operations.
We do not abandon our soldiers anywhere – this is our concept. During the disarming and elimination operation of a very dangerous group in the Lopota Gorge, the corporal, Doctor Vladimer Khvedelidze was killed precisely at the moment when he was pulling out his wounded comrade. The wounded one has survived, while Vladimer Khvedelidze, unfortunately, did not.
This is precisely what our country rests on – people’s selflessness.
This is why first of all; I would like to give apartment keys to Vladimer Khvedelidze’s family.
You know that we are implementing very serious changes in the Georgian Armed Forces.
The military academy in Gori, the academy of our armed forces, has been significantly expanded.
Our youth cadet’s institution is working very well; it also has substantial progress in terms of international cooperation.
You know that we have reached an agreement with the United States on training our armed forces, on taking forward the process of NATO integration, and the defense of Georgia.
If not for these boys, who had been killed in Lopota two weeks ago defending the security of our country, as well as those who participated in the Afghanistan operation, and of course those who defended the country in 2008, not only would Georgia not be strong today, it would not even exist.
No matter who says what, our small army had resisted the armed forces of a huge country against the background of incomparable proportions.
We had been bombed by a few hundred planes, whereas we only had a few dozen rockets to resist.
Our artillery had heroically held positions for several days. It was all necessary for the international community to awake and save the Georgian statehood.
The fact that we stand firm today, is of course to be credited to the arrival of 6 country’s presidents to Georgia; of course the position of the USA was critical; of course the decisive factor was when the US fleet left for Georgia; the fact that France jumped in the negotiation process was also very important, but if you ask me who saved Georgia, I will say that the decisive and the most important was that Georgians did indeed show an ability to resist heroically.
They were precisely the ones who saved the country!
A country of this size had never survived such an intervention.
That is why we have to guard Georgia’s statehood as never before.
Today we face many challenges.
There are challenges outside and there challenges inside.
You have seen how much progress we have made, but we have also been reminded of huge challenges that the country has to overcome.
What I saw these days – the acts of a Gldani prison group, what we all saw is something I could not even imagine.
I could not imagine that it was still possible for such isolated cells to exist in new Georgia – these are cancer cells in our body.
This is something which I thought was amputated and defeated once and for all.
I would like to remind everyone that what we all saw was our daily reality, 8 years ago.
I well remember how people were thrown out from the windows of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; I remember well how a driver was beaten to death simply because he did not let the president’s escort pass…
Everything was happening in front of everyone.
I remember abductions…
The only place then, to have an uninterrupted supply of electricity, had been the police building where people were executed.
I do not even speak about beating people in prisons…
Of course, what had happened is beyond any human principle, and it is impossible for it not to entail public outrage and immense irritation.
I have very rarely myself been so outraged and angry in my life – probably, I have not.
It is doubtless that there has been a failure in the system.
Of course this specific person is to be blamed the most among its perpetrators; which now has become almost a hero, he would receive salary for months for doing all of this – he would get paid precisely for doing this.
I would like to address those people, who had financed it: it is not possible to trade in everything for elections, is it? It is not possible to make everything for political dividends, is it?
If you knew that it was taking place for months, you pay money for this, if there are elements of organized crime emerging, how can you sleep calm and doubt maybe it can be of use during elections?
The state does not renounce the responsibility. The fact that it took place is indeed our responsibility.
Of course it is our responsibility that the former road policeman had worked in our system, just as many other personalities, who can hardly be called humans.
Especially, that he had an experience of having relations with organized crime and we let him act without being punished, to make and sell this information and then escape (at least, one person has escaped).
It is our serious shortfall, but it is not grounds for returning Georgia, once and for all, to the condition from which we have barely started to emerge from.
We have basically managed to pull Georgia out from the past, but it seems that tails have still remained.
You know very well what it was like in the armed forces, you know in what condition systems were.
I do not compare – these are different systems, but you also know what it was like in the penitentiary system then, when I was the Minister of Justice.
The family member had to feed the prisoners; this and other issues had been solved, but there turned out to remain this group of people.
Of course it is our big defeat, but I would like to tell everyone that I have appointed a new minister in this sphere, who will change everything – we will keep our achievements and we truly had them, whereas we will rectify the shortfalls.
What had happened has basically ruined everything, even in my eyes and in the public’s eyes, but I address everyone, not to use the fate of these people – no matter who they are – for different political games.
I would also like to tell the society, everything that is happening, unfortunately, is part of a different plan and we have international cooperation with many of our partners, we have lots of information, not pleasant information too. We will inform the public about it as well.
We will eliminate all of this, as no one should be able to stir and drag Georgia back.
I share the outrage, and join those people who are horrified and revolted by what they saw through the TV, but let us halt for a moment and think: what do we want – to ruin everything that we have accomplished, or to continue and take our society forward?
You, as never before, as no one else better, our officers, our soldiers and their family members know well what the price of a Georgian State is.
If there is anything that I am proud of during my presidency, it is the establishment of professional armed forces and we are still at the beginning of this road.
The fact that the world’s best instructors teach at our academy today; the fact that we are training officers in the best academy; the fact that we are now beginning to import and procure the best military equipment; the fact that we have a disciple, as never before – you remember what was happening in the army, in terms of harassment, beating and the humiliating of new recruits – this has disappeared and no one remembers it any more.
You know it best what the price of our statehood is, and we should not give in our state, our offspring to the dirty forces – this is what matters, what the lesson is, as politicians come and go and horrible things can happen everywhere.
This is a small portion of a picture that we had in the past.
I do want for that small fragment, which we had in our organism as cancer cells, to once again penetrate our organism and destroy the state organism.
Cancer requires radical treatment and we have done this in these three days.
We will not allow this cancer to spread all over the organism, and to weaken it to the extent where it is not able to resist the illness.
900 of our soldiers – 900 families receive apartments here today, and 600 more families will receive apartments in the spring of 2013.
This is exactly the tenure of my presidency. I had promised you at the beginning of this tenure that this would happen and so has it happened.
As you have seen, these apartments are very comfortable, you see that the houses have very good architecture and are of great quality, and I would like our officers to raise worthy children here.
I want the children of the killed officers to grow up with dignity here.
I once again pay tribute to out killed soldiers.
I went to the Lado Khvedelidze’s funeral and though I am not much of a sentimental person, I always have tears at a soldiers’ funeral. In this regard, that day was no exception.
I know well what the loss of the best citizen means for Georgia and the soldier, who saves our future and country at the expense of his life, is better than any president, any politician, and any other representative of any other profession.
This is the most important profession and achievement that a member of our society can have.
My dear friends, I would like to wish you great success, wish you all a prosperous life, wish you victory over the enemy, the unification of Georgia and the eventual strengthening of our country.
I thank you once again.
Today is the day of fulfilling a promise and I am just delighted today, as each of you are.
Those who did not make it today, may they rest in peace.