Yearbook 2015
Georgia. According to
COUNTRYAAH, the country's difficult economic situation
worsened during the year. Wine exports fell sharply as
falling oil prices and Western sanctions against the Russian
Federation degraded the economy and purchasing power there.
Exports to the war-affected Ukraine also declined. At the
same time, Georgia's exports to the EU increased somewhat
following the signed association agreement the year before.
At the beginning of the year, the government presented a
austerity package and proposed the privatization of state
property. The Georgian currency, Larin, had lost almost a
third of its value in a year and the central bank demanded
new rules for commercial banks' lending, which was done at a
fixed dollar rate. The domestic currency race made it
difficult for many Georgians to settle their loans.
President Giorgi Margvelashvili's regime reacted strongly
when Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko appointed
Margvelashvili's antagonist, former Georgian President
Micheil Saakashvili, as his adviser. When Saakashvili is
accused in Georgia of abuse of power and is wanted there he
was requested to be extradited, which was rejected. Instead,
Saakashvili gained Ukrainian citizenship and was appointed
governor of the Ukrainian province of Odessa.
Saakashvili acted against the regime from his exile. He
fired the masses with video links when tens of thousands of
people demonstrated in the capital Tbilisi demanding the
resignation of the government. After several ministers left
the government, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili was
forced by the constitution to formally resign and form a new
ministry. The new government was approved by Parliament in
May. But after a few months, the new Foreign Minister was
forced to resign without giving any reasons.
In June, Tbilisi was haunted by the worst floods in the
city's memory as 19 people lost their lives and buildings
were washed away. The city's zoo was destroyed, and many
wildlife took to the streets where police shot lions, tigers
and wolves. A hippopotamus swam in the center, a crocodile
was seen among cars and a bear tried to save himself on a
roof.
Popular anger was directed at the old regime, which,
against expert advice, carried out large construction
projects with inadequate land planning. Extremely heavy rain
loosened huge amounts of soil from the heights and sent a
huge stream of clay and tree trunks into the city center.
In October, the Chief Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague requested an investigation
into suspected war crimes in the war between the Russian
Federation and Georgia about the outbreak republic of South
Ossetia in 2008. According to the prosecutor, there were
reasons to believe that war crimes were committed by both
sides.
In October, the president of the self-proclaimed republic
of South Ossetia announced a referendum on accession to the
Russian Federation. He said he was confident that the result
would be positive. No date for the vote was given.
Earlier in the year, South Ossetia had signed an
agreement with the Russian Federation on Russian control
over South Ossetia's defense and border protection and that
South Ossetia's military should be integrated into the
Russian military. Both the EU and NATO protested the
agreement as a violation of Georgia's sovereignty and
international law.
There was conflict between Georgia and the Russian
Federation over the border markings of South Ossetia, which
were placed by Russian military in Georgian territory. In
Tbilisi, thousands of people protested against the Russian
intervention in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the
government in Tbilisi protested Russian military maneuvers
in the outbreak republics.
When the Constitutional Court in September declared that
the capital's former mayor had been detained in the
Constitution, he was released, only to be sentenced to four
and a half years in prison. In November, a court ruled that
a private television channel, Rustavi-2, must replace its
bosses. The new management had been appointed by a
regime-friendly entrepreneur.
Voluntary organizations were also much needed by the
regime. They warned of a bill against upliftment that was
feared to be used to silence critics and stifle freedom of
speech.
In December, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili resigned,
and former Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirika Kashvili was
appointed new Prime Minister.
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