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Soros Downplays Role in Georgia Revolution

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  • Soros Downplays Role in Georgia Revolution

    Soros Downplays Role in Georgia Revolution
    By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

    The Associated Press
    05/31/05 17:53 EDT

    TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - U.S. billionaire George Soros on Tuesday
    praised Georgia's "Rose Revolution," which catapulted opposition
    leaders to power 16 months ago, but played down the role of
    organizations that received funding from his foundation.

    During his three-day visit to the Caucasus Mountain nation, Soros
    has been met with protests by Georgian nationalists who allege he
    is the power behind the pro-Western government of President Mikhail
    Saakashvili.

    Soros told a news conference that critics have exaggerated the role
    played by organizations who received funding from his Open Society
    Institute, which was holding its 10th anniversary commemoration
    in Georgia.

    "I'm very pleased and proud of the work of the foundation in preparing
    Georgian society for what became a Rose Revolution, but the role of
    the foundation and my personal has been greatly exaggerated," Soros
    said in response to questions by reporters. "I think you here must
    know more than anybody else that the Rose Revolution was entirely
    the work of Georgian society."

    Protests against election fraud snowballed into demonstrations that
    came to be known as the Rose Revolution. The demonstrations toppled
    the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze and catapulted
    Saakashvili to power.

    Soros, who met with Saakashvili on Monday, cited the subsequent
    popular uprisings in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan that threw out entrenched
    leadership in those two former Soviet republics and brought some
    opposition leaders to power.

    "And I think that there is an inspiration throughout the region to
    build freedom and less oppressive and less corrupt governments. But
    the foundation is not engaged in preparing revolutions - that is not
    the mission of the foundation," Soros said.

    Some Georgian politicians have alleged that Soros had personally
    appointed seven Georgian ministers to their jobs and was paying
    their salaries.

    Up to this year, some government salaries were, in fact, paid by
    international organizations, but as of 2005 the state budget has been
    covering them.

    "Neither I nor the foundation exerted any influence about the selection
    of the people who were entitled to these supplemented salaries,"
    he said.

    The billionaire also said opposition protests during his visit were
    a sign of Georgia's democratic process.
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