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CNN Sunday Morning
Standoff in Georgia Enters Day Two
Aired November 23, 2003 - 09:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of a tense standoff in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Tens of thousands of protesters turning out in the parliament building demanding the resignation of the president. CNN's Jill Dougherty joins us from Tbilisi with the latest -- Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, you know, this demonstration that has been going on for literally for days was extremely big yesterday, and if anything, it is bigger tonight. You can hear people behind me. There are literally tens of thousands of people here in front of the parliament building. They show no signs of going away.
And (UNINTELLIGIBLE), as we know, the president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, has essentially given them a deadline, 48 hours. Now, half of that has expired. So they have 24 hours, he says, to get out of here, or he will have to bring in the Defense Ministry troops and the Interior Minister troops.
But as I said, it doesn't look as if anyone is going any place at this point.
The president also has declared a state of emergency for 30 days. And at this point, though, you'd have to say that, as yesterday, it is surprisingly calm. There's been no violence. People are driving around. It has the air of almost like after a football game, lots of cars in the street, et cetera.
But there is always concern that violence could break out.
Now, also, the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, came here late last night, early this morning, touching down in Tbilisi. And he's been involved in a kind of shuttle diplomacy back and forth, talking to the opposition, talking to the president, and he says he's trying to bring about a peaceful resolution of this situation.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IGOR IVANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Today, unfortunately, there are problems in Georgia. We will not interfere in these problems, but we want these problems to be resolved by constitutional and peaceful means.
(END VIDEO CLIP) DOUGHERTY: But constitutional and peaceful means -- at this point, you have this odd situation of having two people who are technically saying that they are leading the country. Mr. Shevardnadze, who is the president, and Neno Burdzhanadze (ph), who is now the de facto leader of the country.
You also have two parliaments, Martin, makes for a very strange situation.
So right now, just a few minutes ago we had a quick interview with Mikhail Saakashvili (ph), he is one of the key opposition people, and I asked him, what are you going to do, 24 hours from now, you and your people are supposed to be out of here and he said, he does not believe that the president actually has the forces to carry that out.
Back to you, Martin.
SAVIDGE: It is a strange circumstance and certainly a tense situation there. We'll continue to monitor it through you. Thank you very much. CNN's Jill Dougherty in Tbilisi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 23, 2003 - 09:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of a tense standoff in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Tens of thousands of protesters turning out in the parliament building demanding the resignation of the president. CNN's Jill Dougherty joins us from Tbilisi with the latest -- Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marty, you know, this demonstration that has been going on for literally for days was extremely big yesterday, and if anything, it is bigger tonight. You can hear people behind me. There are literally tens of thousands of people here in front of the parliament building. They show no signs of going away.
And (UNINTELLIGIBLE), as we know, the president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, has essentially given them a deadline, 48 hours. Now, half of that has expired. So they have 24 hours, he says, to get out of here, or he will have to bring in the Defense Ministry troops and the Interior Minister troops.
But as I said, it doesn't look as if anyone is going any place at this point.
The president also has declared a state of emergency for 30 days. And at this point, though, you'd have to say that, as yesterday, it is surprisingly calm. There's been no violence. People are driving around. It has the air of almost like after a football game, lots of cars in the street, et cetera.
But there is always concern that violence could break out.
Now, also, the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, came here late last night, early this morning, touching down in Tbilisi. And he's been involved in a kind of shuttle diplomacy back and forth, talking to the opposition, talking to the president, and he says he's trying to bring about a peaceful resolution of this situation.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IGOR IVANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Today, unfortunately, there are problems in Georgia. We will not interfere in these problems, but we want these problems to be resolved by constitutional and peaceful means.
(END VIDEO CLIP) DOUGHERTY: But constitutional and peaceful means -- at this point, you have this odd situation of having two people who are technically saying that they are leading the country. Mr. Shevardnadze, who is the president, and Neno Burdzhanadze (ph), who is now the de facto leader of the country.
You also have two parliaments, Martin, makes for a very strange situation.
So right now, just a few minutes ago we had a quick interview with Mikhail Saakashvili (ph), he is one of the key opposition people, and I asked him, what are you going to do, 24 hours from now, you and your people are supposed to be out of here and he said, he does not believe that the president actually has the forces to carry that out.
Back to you, Martin.
SAVIDGE: It is a strange circumstance and certainly a tense situation there. We'll continue to monitor it through you. Thank you very much. CNN's Jill Dougherty in Tbilisi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
