Statement about Remarks of Ivanishvili about Gigauri and Kozhoridze

We issue the present statement in response to remarks made by former Prime-Minister Bidzina Ivenishvili during a TV program 20/30 about former and current directors of civil society organizations.

Former Prime Minister continues his series of statements against non-governmental organizations. He has accused Eka Gigauri and Kakha Kozhoridze of cooperation with opposition forces but the spirit of the statement serves the aim of discrediting the civil sector. Even though Ivanishvili’s allegations are unsubstantiated, they may encourage other individuals and especially officials to use same rhetoric’s against the civil society organizations and by doing so, thwart their active involvement in important processes of public concern. Such statements of former PM are often followed by throwing of unsubstantiated allegations by politicians and officials, like we have witnessed it before.

Frequent recent verbal assaults against civil society organizations lead us to believe that this has nothing to do with constructive criticism (which we would have welcomed) and everything to do with disrespecting someone else’s opinion. Such attitude leaves no room for one of the key objectives of civil society organizations – direct public attention towards system problems and mistakes made by the authorities.

The fact that the position of civil society organizations may sometimes coincide with opinions of various political forces does not inevitably mean that they are subjective. If it wasn’t true, we would have been forced to abandon campaigns and initiatives that we were implementing prior to the 2012 parliamentary elections, including part 1 of the campaign It Affects You Too, which aimed at modifying the existing election system and creating competitive election environment. It is regrettable that we now need to make these clarifications.

We remain hopeful that representatives of the authorities will not perceive statements of the former Prime Minister as instructions and they will act in accordance with law and democracy requirements, and will pursue constructive and results-oriented cooperation with civil society organizations.