Founder and Honorary Chair of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, issued a statement marking the 13th anniversary of the 2012 electoral victory, calling it one of the most important achievements in the history of the independent Georgia.

“13 years have passed since the most significant victory in independent Georgia’s history.

October 1 has become a symbol of unity, dignity, and the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, for contemporary Georgia.

October 1, 2012, holds a special and distinguished place alongside the remarkable victories achieved throughout Georgia’s centuries-long history, because this day became, in the 35-year history of our country’s renewed independence, a decisive watershed between, on one side, authoritarianism, submission to external interests, fear, and terror, and on the other side, democracy, loyalty to national sovereignty, and freedom!

This day doesn’t belong to specific individuals or any political party; the true creator of October 1 is the Georgian people, who remain faithful to the precepts of our ancestors, to our traditions and Christian values, and who have never bowed their heads to enemies, whether internal or external!

The Georgian people are distinguished by one special quality that we have developed throughout our centuries-long history of struggle - in critical moments for the country, when the threat of destruction becomes real, we always choose the right side. We always manage to distinguish black from white, and we stand where freedom, justice, mutual respect, love, dignity, and independence are found.

October 1, 2012, was founded precisely on these ideals and became the inevitable conclusion of the struggle that I personally, Georgian Dream, and the glorious Georgian people began in 2011 against internal enemies subservient to foreign powers.

Thirteen years is indeed a long time, yet the ideals of October 1, 2012, have not disappeared, and these values remain the main foundation of our team’s actions. The best judge of this is still the wise Georgian people, who even today give us the right to represent them just as they did in 2012, and whom no one can deceive - neither with lies, nor with propaganda, nor with promises!

Since that historic victory, we have worked together to attain greater prosperity, wealth, and economic stability, gradually progressing towards true independence and firm sovereignty. However, the main obstacle on this path has been forces fostering radicalism, mutual confrontation, and artificial discord; forces that, this time, under the guise of opposition, are fighting against their own people and country, aiming to return us to the past and stagnation, and to subservience to foreign interests.

Despite their attempts, we have indeed achieved tangible results. Setting aside propaganda and harsh rhetoric, it is evident even to the naked eye that since gaining independence, Government of the Georgian Dream is the only ruling force that has maintained uninterrupted peace. At the same time, there is not a single sector in which the situation has not improved dramatically compared to 2012 - as confirmed by numerous international rankings, research based on objective criteria, and, most importantly, the Georgian people themselves, who continue to trust us and grant us the mandate to govern the country!

The past 13 years are the logical continuation of our centuries-long existence. In 2012, we not only survived but triumphed; however, if we do not protect the freedom we have gained, we shall lose everything we have built over so many years! Georgia’s history is precisely this, a continuous struggle that, at different times, has manifested as self-sacrifice for survival, the pursuit of independence, the formation of an accountable state, and the preservation of homeland, language, and faith: the key defining elements of Georgian identity. Today, we continue to fight, though against transformed enemies and challenges; our battle line is now drawn in defence of peace and stability, which remain the only path towards development, a brighter future, and a united Georgia.

We must clearly understand that today we are once again walking on a razor’s edge and have no right to stumble. We must realize that the constant struggle for sovereignty and independence requires constant vigilance.

Naturally, there have been mistakes over these 13 years, but, fortunately, none of such magnitude as to threaten our sovereignty or physical existence, nor of a nature that their correction or removal would be impossible.

For me personally, the heaviest burden is that over the past years there was also treacherous betrayal within our team, which not only placed the Georgian Dream in crisis but also created a real threat of diverting our country from its development path and returning to power forces submissive to foreign interests. In the past, several members of our team decided that submitting to influential foreign forces or seeking personal comfort at the expense of harming our citizens’ interests could bring them great benefit, and therefore it was worth setting aside the interests of the team and the country.

Yet, we endured this as well! Throughout this process, just as since 2011, the support of Georgian society, of our wise people, gave me and us the will to fight, strengthened our belief that we could overcome any difficulty.

Indeed, it was through constant vigilance, standing for the truth and continually working to strengthen sovereignty, that we exposed all traitors and compelled internal enemies to recognize that their actions are driven not by national interests, but by foreign ones. Specific foreign powers hiding behind the mask of friend and partner have been forced openly to admit that they demand our subservience to their interests!

That is precisely why pressure and blackmail against our country and people have increased, taking various forms. Naturally, on the backdrop of external challenges and destructive wars in the region, attacks on our sovereignty are becoming more frequent and intense. However, certain forces are compelled to carry these out not through internal enemies, as they have done for years, but through the hands of external enemies.

Against this backdrop, their supporting agents operating within the country, who are widely dispersed across opposition parties and the so-called non-governmental sector, initially appear to have been weakened. However, we must clearly understand what forces are attempting to subordinate our country to their own interests.

For them, it is no problem to distract our citizens by replacing one recognizable face with another, one party with another, or even one television channel with another.

They can bring forth new foreign politicians and so-called influential experts to act against Georgia, replacing those of a similar kind already exposed in lies. However, they fail to grasp that they can no longer deceive us. Today, our society listens attentively to ideas and opinions, and based on analysis, draws logical conclusions. Most importantly, for the Georgian people, authority does not come from specific names, titles, or artificially created influential politicians - it comes from the truth!

And yet, Georgian Dream’s main achievement over the past 13 years is that our team has learnt the ability to assess events and facts correctly. Moreover, a tremendous achievement is that society has matured alongside us and itself manages excellently to conduct proper analysis, so that everything is called by its true name.

Together with the Georgian people, we have successfully neutralised the main weapon adopted by the previous government from its foreign masters, to present light as dark, construction as destruction, and good as evil. Together with society, we have successfully neutralised the convoluted pseudo-liberal ideology that presented a criminal regime as a beacon of democracy, whilst calling a genuinely democratic government a dictatorship.

Today, we are no longer impeded in our ability to discern clearly who is a friend and who is a foe. We have thoroughly analysed that not a single foreign power seeks to assist us; instead, each is driven by its own interests and ambitions.

Of course, we do not refuse partnership with anyone, but this must not come at the expense of weakening our country’s sovereignty or using Georgia for others’ purposes. We firmly stand by the position that partnership and friendship must be mutual.

In terms of defending our unity, the ideals of October 1, and the achievements and gains of recent years, another test awaits us on October 4. In the approaching local self-government elections, unmasked internal and external enemies see yet another opportunity for chaos, a coup d’état and the realisation of their own objectives.

More and more people are becoming convinced of their true intentions, and their support is decreasing daily. Today, state institutions in Georgia are stronger than ever, and this convinces them that they have only one remaining chance - which means even greater radicalism and direct attacks on their own state and, consequently, on the people.

Against this backdrop, on 4 October, we have the opportunity to demonstrate once again that our struggle today is about going to the polling stations, making a free choice, and safeguarding peace and stability. Today, we have the opportunity to definitively and peacefully affirm the peaceful victory achieved in 2012, to consign radicalism and mutual confrontation to the past, and then to strive for greater development and prosperity, to eradicate poverty, to strengthen sovereignty, and to unite the country peacefully!

Long live the united Georgian people! Long live united Georgia!” – reads the statement of Bidzina Ivanishvili.