Georgian opposition leader Zurab Japaridze says Trump administration not particularly focused on democracy, human rights

Zurab “Girchi” Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Georgian opposition Coalition for Change, on Monday said that meetings with American delegations had not produced any significant outcomes, suggesting future meetings would likely end similarly.

In his interview with Formula TV, Japaridze noted that the attitude of the Trump administration is that they are clearly not particularly focused on democracy and human rights.

“We have had meetings with US delegations, and we will meet them again next week when they arrive. I suspect these meetings will end with the same result as the previous ones. Nothing special is happening here. The attitude of the American administration is that they are clearly not particularly focused on democracy and human rights”, he said.

Japaridze further questioned claims that US President Donald Trump wanted to pursue major initiatives in Georgia but was being obstructed by the Georgian authorities.

“What exactly should they settle with the government over? What does ‘settling with Georgian Dream’ even mean? Will they build a Trump Tower? What is there that Trump supposedly wants to do here and the authorities would block by saying, ‘we will not allow it’? Some people seem to think Trump wants to do something in Georgia and the government will stand in his way. What exactly cannot they do?” he said.

Responding to a journalist’s question on whether Bidzina Ivanishvili was a problem for the United States, Japaridze replied that he was, although he argued the current US administration was not particularly active in foreign affairs in the region.

“In that sense, yes, he is [a problem], but the current American administration is not especially active in foreign affairs, particularly in this region”, Japaridze concluded.