Saakashvili plans to stay in Georgian politics

(Interfax  – TBILISI, July 18, 2013) Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili plans to continue his political career in Georgia after his second presidential term expires.

“Georgia is a very small country, where the same recognizable persons will always continue replacing each other. Obviously, no one will disappear, and all of these people will be present in the government and in politics,” Saakashvili told the Rustavi-2 television station, after being asked whether he had a chance to become president of Georgia once again.

“What does not kill makes one stronger. It is impossible to kill all of us. Someone will be killed, someone will die a natural death and someone will be saved. We should plan our future depending on this,” Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili said that while leaving the presidential palace, he would take only his Columbia University degree certificate with him.

Commenting on his current relations with Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, the president said that he had met Ivanishvili only four times in previous years.

“It was mostly (former Georgian Prime Minister) Vano Merabishvili who communicated with him. Ivanishvili saw the late businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili as his main threat. He (Ivanishvili) always thought that he would kill him or would do something else with him. When Patarkatsishvili died in early 2008, our relations with Ivanishvili stopped altogether,” the Georgian president said.

Saakashvili also denied claims that Ivanishvili funded Georgia’s police and built schools in the country.

“He has never invested in young people and their education, except for some special projects. For example, he did something for the French Embassy and was given French citizenship in exchange for that. He funded actors, members of the Academy of Sciences, but he never financed the youth,” Saakashvili said.