The Chairperson of the Civic IDEA- Tinatin Khidasheli, participated in a conference organized by the International Institute for Peace (IIP) – “Thirty years on: Is There still a Post-Soviet Space?”. The report of the conference has been published, which also includes the article by Tinatin Khidasheli:
“From the Georgian perspective, it is important to distinguish between political Europe and geographic Europe. Georgia very much sees itself as belonging to the former, though it is geographically in the Caucasus. Georgia has felt invisible to the West since the 2008 War with Russia, wherein Georgia received little support from NATO or the EU. Georgia is a place where Russia is contesting the West for influence, and Russia is trying to show that Georgia belongs to its neighborhood. For Georgians, it appears that the EU and NATO have constructed a new Iron Curtain, the countries beyond which they do not see as their concern. Furthermore, Russian sanctions were a blessing in disguise for Georgia, as the country was able to strongly diversify its economy and exports when Russia closed its market to Georgia.”
Report ?
