Saakashvili Offers to Meet Ivanishvili
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 10 Feb.'13 / 13:26

After PM Bidzina Ivanishvili's February 9 statement, President Saakashvili has invited the Prime Minister for a meeting to find a consensus on constitutional amendments and to ensure "peaceful cohabitation."

"We can sit down as soon as Monday and discuss such topics as constitutional amendment and other important initiatives that require consensus , as well as on the ways to ensure practically a peaceful cohabitation between the various institutions that are key to the Georgian democracy," Saakashvili said in a written statement.

Below is the full text of President Saakashvili's statement:

"I welcome the fact that the Prime Minister stopped calling for the destruction of the UNM and offered to [have a] dialog with my team and the parliamentary opposition.

What happened on February 8 should never happen again in our country. Political violence has to stop, as well as the attacks against opposition, pressures on MPs, invasions of local government or selective prosecutions. We need to start a real cohabitation as prescribed by our constitution and as wished by our people.

I am inviting therefore - in the continuity  of my speech, so that monologues and only declarations do not continue on television screen and we move specifically on to doing business - the Prime Minister and his team to have a real dialog with me and my team on a series of legislative issues. We can sit down as soon as Monday and discuss such topics as constitutional amendment and other important initiatives that require consensus , as well as on the ways to ensure practically a peaceful cohabitation between the various institutions that are key to the Georgian democracy.

These talks will start as soon as the Prime Minister accepts the invitation. And, obviously at the same time I would agree to go to the parliament and deliver there an address to the nation that should never have been cancelled in the first place.

It is our historic responsibility as elected leaders to do everything to prevent violence, so that the civil clash of the 90s never returns to this country.

I hope that the shameful event of February 8 will serve as a lesson and put an end to the cycle of harassment and hatred that started recently in our beloved Georgia."

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