Georgia, 2009

I am grateful for the

opportunity to address the General Assembly at its

sixty-fourth session.

Each year, we gather here to confront our

common challenges and to express our vision for the

world we share, the world for which we are common

stewards. And each year we promise to do more and to

do better to live up to and defend the principles

enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

This year, we meet on the twentieth anniversary

of the most successful triumph of those principles.

Twenty years have passed since Europe and the rest of

the world were liberated from one of the cruellest

episodes in modern history. The fall of the Berlin Wall

brought an end to an artificial line that separated

nations, divided families, strangled freedom and

imprisoned millions. Remarkably, that formidable wall

crumbled without a single shot being fired. It yielded

to the will of those millions who yearned for liberty

and it yielded to the determination of a united West.

Twenty years ago, a universally feared military

force was defeated by the force of a universal truth —

the call for freedom and the simple desire to live a

dignified life. When the Berlin Wall was dismantled

20 years ago, it did more than free the captive nations

of the Warsaw Pact. It unleashed the hopes, dreams,

aspirations and talents of millions of citizens living

under the tyranny of the Soviet Union — including my

own nation’s people.

Today, these citizens make up more than a dozen

diverse nations, linked together by the common desires

and ambitions to live in a world free from spheres of

influence — free from external control — and to be

able to choose their own destiny. Today, as we look

back at that historic chapter and the impact it has had

on our world, we can rightly be proud of what was

achieved, the tremendous progress that has been made,

and the prosperity that a lasting peace has brought.

But if we are to evaluate the past honestly, we

must admit that the present remains bittersweet. For

there is a real danger that, rather than build on this

great chapter of idealism and progress, States and

leaders will allow a return of the dull complacency and

cynical power politics that led to so many of the worst

moments of the past 100 years.

And the moment is bittersweet because,

regrettably, not everyone drew the same lessons of

hope and inspiration when that wall came down.

Indeed, 20 years ago, when freedom’s spirit swept that

wall away, few imagined the repression and threats it

represented would so soon reappear and that the hopes

unleashed in 1989 would so quickly founder. Yet today,

a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace remains a

goal still to be achieved — a project not yet

accomplished and a challenge, unfortunately, unmet.

Today, I stand before the Assembly as the

democratically elected leader of a proud and sovereign

nation. But, tragically, Georgia today, like Germany a

generation ago, is a nation with a deep wound running

through it. As Václav Havel and other leading voices

of Europe’s conscience declared earlier this week,

Europe is today divided by a new wall built by an

outside force — a wall that runs through the middle of

Georgia.

This wall has been built by the same people who

miss the Berlin Wall, who regret its fall, who did

everything so that the wall would not fall. This wall

cuts off one fifth of our territory and, once again,

divides Europe from itself, creating new lines of

repression and fear, artificial dividing lines inside the

internationally recognized borders of a European

nation.

It may be unpopular, but I am obliged to speak

the truth. And the truth is that this wall’s existence

mocks the progress we seemed to have made since that

bright, shining day in Berlin 20 years ago. This new

wall tells us that, once again, the rule of force has

trumped the rule of law and the rule of reason.

I see no irony — only tragedy — in the fact that

this wall is being built by the very people whose ideas

were collectively and decisively defeated and rejected

just 20 years ago. I take no comfort in the fact that

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those who thought the wall’s destruction was the single

greatest tragedy of the twentieth century now lead

these deplorable efforts.

One year ago, my country was invaded. Tanks,

warplanes, warships, bombs and State-directed cyber-

hackers descended upon our towns, villages, cities,

infrastructure and economy. Hundreds of our people

were killed within days and thousands were wounded.

Tens of thousands of innocent civilians were forced to

flee in the face of ethnic cleansing, which independent

human rights organizations have documented very

well.

Today, these acts of brutality have gone

unaddressed, in direct contravention of international

law, the norms of this institution and internationally

signed agreements designed to reverse these wrongs.

These are the facts that confront us as we gather here

today, and these facts have a name: armed aggression,

ethnic cleansing, mass violation of human rights and

continuing illegal occupation.

Those who unleashed war in our region and in my

country and led ethnic cleansing campaigns in Georgia

said yesterday — in this very Hall, from this very

rostrum — that they had to do it to “implement the

principle of the indivisibility of security” in order to

“move beyond the legacy of the past” (). This

is la langue de bois — very classical langue de bois

from the old days.

The only thing that they stepped over in reality

was our sovereign border. They said they had to do it,

just as their predecessors had to invade Poland —

because of Poland’s reckless desire to be free — in

1939, Finland in 1940, Hungary in 1956,

Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Afghanistan in 1979. The

same people had to erase a capital of 400,000

inhabitants — Grozny — to destroy and exterminate

the proud Chechen nation and kill tens of thousands of

innocent women and children. And I am saying on the

record that the clock is ticking, and they will have to

do it again, and they will do it again unless they are

stopped by all of us. Recent history indeed is a

powerful guide to understanding what kind of actions

these leaders undertake in order to bring what they call

security and stability to my nation.

But I want to say clearly today that the people of

Georgia cannot and will not accept a new dividing line

in our country. That is an unchangeable commitment.

Under these daily menaces, military provocations and

all kinds of lies directed against us from many different

sources, my nation will not crumble and we will never

surrender to this brutal force.

The wall across Europe is not a matter of concern

to Georgia alone. Indeed, in this matter the very values

of this institution are under threat. The protection of

human rights, respect for the dignity and equality of all

persons, the inadmissibility of ethnic cleansing and the

recognition of the inviolability of sovereign borders —

all these are values that form the bedrock of this

institution.

We certainly did not choose this course of action,

but it is up to us to recognize and reverse its illegality.

As a community of responsible nations, it is our

collective responsibility to uphold international law

and to insist that borders cannot and will not be

changed through the use of force. It is up to us to tear

down this new wall peacefully with the power of our

ideas and the strength of our convictions. I want the

world to understand clearly how we view this new wall

and our strategy for tearing it down.

To start with, let me state outright that we do not

expect it to disappear overnight. We understand that it

is a very, very hard process, but the history of the

Berlin Wall teaches us that patience must never be

passive. We should never become resigned to the idea

that this situation should be accepted or tolerated. The

Berlin Wall fell only because passionate, disciplined,

energetic partisans of freedom, both behind and outside

that wall, worked with focus, discipline, courage and

determination to remind the world community of the

illegitimacy and illegality of that wall, and to take

action to hasten its demise.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank

those States Members of the United Nations for their

votes recognizing the right of return for all who have

been displaced and for all the victims of ethnic

cleansing. I would like to thank all those nations across

the globe that resisted illegal pressure — and in many

cases attempts at bribery — by standing firm in their

non-recognition of those territories of Georgia now

occupied by a foreign force. I want to thank all those

nations that have been so generous in pledging and

providing the vital economic support that has proved

invaluable in helping to build shelters for and rebuild

the dreams of those the invasion has made refugees and

internally displaced persons. On behalf of all my

fellow citizens, I wish to thank them for their

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generosity, especially at a time of such extreme

hardship around the world.

Beyond the comfort provided by their material

support, I want to thank all of Georgia’s friends who

have defended not only our sovereignty, but our right

to forge our own path in the world, to choose our own

alliances and to reject the nineteenth-century notion of

spheres of influence, which led to so much warfare,

repression and hardship in the world’s history. I want

to thank those nations and leaders of the European

Union who today have committed their monitors to

Georgia for the promotion of peace. The Georgian

people are also grateful to United States President

Obama for his unyielding words and very strong

declarations of support for our sovereignty and

territorial integrity, as well as to Vice President Biden

for visiting Georgia this summer and for underscoring,

in meeting with refugee children, America’s

commitment to our democracy and our right to choose

our own future. In particular, I want to thank the

United Nations for more than 16 years of contributions

to peace on the ground in Georgia through its presence

in our country — a presence recently and abruptly

halted by the unilateral actions of one single Member

State.

Our future depends on us, and so today I also

want to report to the United Nations on the progress

Georgia has made, through our own efforts, in the year

since we suffered Europe’s first invasion in the post-

cold war era. One year after losing hundreds of our

sons and daughters and after seeing hundreds of

thousands of our people displaced, the Georgian people

have regrouped and made real progress down the path

of peace, freedom and individual liberty.

I would like to pay tribute to their courage. Just a

few days ago, in a refugee camp outside Tbilisi, I saw

young children demonstrating their unstoppable will to

have a normal and free life. These were children of all

ethnic backgrounds. Indeed, most of the refugees from

South Ossetia are ethnic Ossetians, and they fled from

so-called liberators or were forced out. The children I

saw in that refugee camp were seizing the opportunity

to learn how to compete in the modern age using new

computers, mastering English and advancing their

pursuit of knowledge, despite the odds. These children

are the future of my country. These children symbolize

the path Georgia took after the invasion.

We are following through on the promises I made

at this rostrum last year to strengthen our democracy,

foster pluralism and expand individual liberties.

Already, we have set reforms in motion that within the

next year will advance the progress of the Rose

Revolution and irreversibly deepen our identity as the

freest State in our region. Already, we have permitted

nearly three months of opposition protests to proceed

unhindered, even though they closed down the main

streets of our capital and paralysed Government

buildings. Our actions reflect our deep commitment to

pluralism and our respect for dissent and freedom of

speech.

In a situation where enemy troops are just two

dozen kilometres from the capital, with their artillery

pointed at the city centre, we have already given

opposition-controlled broadcast stations license to

transmit across the nation. Already, we have brought

opposition parties into the meetings of our national

security council, basically keeping no secrets from

them and giving full access to all State information, so

as to ensure that our security policies reflect the unified

will of the nation, beyond faction and beyond party.

Already, we have committed to the direct election of

all mayors in a few months’ time, and we have begun

the development of new electoral rules, based on

consensus and the agreement of different political

parties, in order to ensure the greatest possible

legitimacy of the next local, parliamentary and

presidential elections.

Along with all these efforts and our commitment

to democratic reforms, our biggest imperative today is

to continue to integrate all different political interests

and groups in promoting a better everyday life for our

citizens. We are also doing everything we can to

rebuild our economy.

The Georgian people are skilled and hard-

working, but they are enduring the double punishment

of the global economic downturn and the economic

consequences of last summer’s invasion. Our biggest

imperative at home is to create more employment, and

we are pursuing that goal every day. Indeed, we are

heartened and proud that the World Bank recently

ranked Georgia as the eleventh most attractive country

in the world for doing business, when only a few years

ago we ranked 122nd. We also rank first in Eastern and

Central Europe, just one year after the invasion. And

we will continue to take steps to strengthen our

economy and create more employment.

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We are resolutely committed to our vision of a

sovereign and unified Georgia. Together with all of

Georgia’s diverse ethnic groups and religions, we will

prevail over the illegal occupation and reverse the

results of ethnic cleansing.

Abkhazia is the birthplace of Georgian

civilization. Since the days of the ancient kingdom of

Colchida — which was the birthplace of one of the

most interesting and ancient European cultures,

beginning with Jason and the Argonauts — it has been

a valuable and vibrant part of our journey through

history. Just a few years ago, it remained a very vibrant

part of Georgia. And that most vibrant and successful

part of Georgia has now been emptied of more than

three quarters of its population. Gardens, hotels,

theatres and restaurants have been replaced by military

bases, minefields and graveyards. It will take time, but

I am sure that Abkhazia will once again be what it

was — the most wonderful part of Georgia — and that

the occupation will be merely a part of history.

I came here today to deliver a simple message.

We believe that Georgia is winning the peace, and here

is how the Assembly can measure our commitment.

Did we crumble in the face of the brutal invasion? No.

Did we crack down on dissent? No. Did we reduce

freedom in the face of recession? No. Even in the face

of adversity, we continue to contribute to the common

goals established by our friends and the international

community at large.

I am proud to say that Georgia is in the vanguard

of the battle against climate change, producing 85 per

cent of its electricity from green and renewable

sources. That percentage is growing, and within the

next three years we will cover 100 per cent of our

needs. Meanwhile, we are on the front lines in

confronting terrorism throughout the world with our

allies, including in Afghanistan, where our troops will

serve side by side with others from around the world.

We are winning the peace because, every day, the

nations of our region become more and more

independent from our common imperial legacy. Every

day, regional States increasingly reject the tremendous

pressure generated by our common past. Every day, the

idea that we can resist revanchist tendencies is

spreading further, and every day the arc of independent

nations — from Ukraine to Moldova and from

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to Mongolia — is telling

the world that spheres of influence are a thing of the

past.

Georgia is not only a country; the new wall that

cuts across our territory has transformed Georgia into

an idea and a test. It is an idea of freedom and

independence and a test for the world — a test that the

world must not fail. If the world passes the test, then

everyone will be amazed at how quickly the region will

develop its tremendous potential. An active, patient

victory over this new wall would be a crucial step in

the effort to build energy security for free nations and a

united front against lawlessness and terrorism. Georgia

is a place where all cultures, influences, religions and

traditions meet, providing an antidote to the threat of a

clash of civilizations.

Yesterday, President Obama said clearly that new

walls should not divide us, that the future belongs to

those who build and not to those who destroy, and that

cooperation and values must prevail against division

and cynicism. Today, I want to stress how much we

share that vision and how vital that vision is to my

country, my region and beyond.

Twenty years ago, the velvet revolutions opened a

new era of international relations and a new journey

began towards a free and cooperative world. I am

confident that we will prevail on that journey, but only

if we are not complacent or passive and only if we

support and defend our deeply held values. After all,

only this week, the clarion voice of those velvet

revolutions two decades ago — the voice of Václav

Havel — offered us a solemn reminder about the

dangers that we have yet to overcome. Speaking about

the new wall that now divides Georgia, he wrote,

together with other prominent Europeans, that

“the failure of western democracies to respond to

the dismemberment of a friendly nation, albeit a

small one, can have very serious global

consequences … The European Union was built

against the temptation of Munich and the iron

curtain. It would be utterly disastrous if we were

to appear in any way to condone the kind of

practices that plunged our continent into war and

division for most of the last century. At stake is

nothing less than the fate of the project to which

we continue to dedicate our lives: the peaceful

and democratic reunification of the European

continent”.

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We must not fail to hear Václav Havel’s call,

President Obama’s call and the call of one of my

personal heroes from Russia, Anna Politkovskaya, who

was so brutally silenced. I remember my conversation

with Ms. Politkovskaya just a few days before she was

murdered. She was my friend and my hero, and I

remember the hopes that she expressed. Their calls

echo across two decades of progress — progress that

has inspired the greatest hopes but that remains very

fragile. Today and together, we must provide answers.

Today and together, we must show leadership and

vision. Today and together, we must demonstrate our

common resolve. And most of all, today and together,

we must provide an example, showing that the power

of our values and ideals will finally unleash the

tremendous human potential within all of us.