Enlarge imageBy Elizabeth Piper
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze says he is ready to discuss key opposition demands, including an early presidential election, if protesters calling on him to resign quit government buildings.
It was the first clear signal that a solution might be in sight to end three weeks of political turmoil that has dragged impoverished Georgia deeper into crisis.
Shevardnadze’s comments on Sunday came amid signs that even some of the security forces were moving over to the opposition side.
"All issues could be discussed including the speeding up of the presidential election, or the repeat of the parliamentary vote," said Shevardnadze, who has 1-1/2 more years in office.
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"It is, if you wish, an ultimatum. I must demand they leave the buildings which have been seized by force immediately. And then we will meet and talk," he told reporters.
He said a state of emergency announced on Saturday would not take effect until later on Sunday or Monday.
Earlier, his defence minister said the veteran leader had not given any orders to use force to block the opposition’s "velvet revolution", but the army was ready to stop the political crisis from escalating.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who flew into Tbilisi before dawn, met the opposition and Shevardnadze to try to broker a solution. One opposition leader said talks on a "reasonable compromise" were possible.
On Saturday, tens of thousands took to the streets to demand Shevardnadze step down. As with the "people power" protests that swept eastern Europe in 1989, the military stood aside, even when protesters stormed parliament.
Shevardnadze was forced to flee the legislature and has since been holed up in his home on the outskirts of the capital.
"Shevardnadze’s regime is bankrupt. His time has been exhausted," said Mikhail Saakashvili, a 35-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer groomed by Shevardnadze and now his leading opponent.
"We should pursue the question of President Shevardnadze’s resignation until the end. The fight has yet to be won. It is too soon to celebrate," he told thousands of supporters still massed outside parliament.
Fellow opposition leader Nino Burdzhanadze, who says she is taking on the functions of the president, said compromise talks were possible. But she insisted there must be new elections.
RIGGED ELECTIONS
It was opposition charges Shevardnadze rigged the November 2 parliamentary election which set off the protests that threaten to end 11 years of his increasingly unpopular rule.
The 75-year-old leader, who has survived at least two assassination attempts, is widely blamed for the country’s grinding poverty.
He looked exhausted and nervous when he faced the cameras on Sunday to meet Ivanov.
Shevardnadze’s own inner circle has looked divided and there were signs some security forces might be switching sides.
A presidential administrative source said Shevardnadze had sacked the secretary of his Security Council -- a largely advisory body on internal and external security which the president heads.
Local media quoted the opposition as saying Tedo Japaridze had lost his job for sympathising with the protesters.
And a group of up to 200 men and women, claiming to be members of the national guard, joined an opposition rally.
"The guys are still coming and the whole of the national guard will be here," one colonel told Reuters.
Local pro-opposition television showed pictures of other soldiers holding opposition flags.
But Defence Minister David Tevzadze, speaking for the first time since the storming of parliament, implied that the army was still under Shevardnadze’s control.
"The army has not received orders from the commander general to use force," he told reporters at his headquarters. "The army is paying a lot of attention to the events and is ready to stop the escalation of chaos and to fulfil its responsibility."
Shevardnadze had earlier said that if parliament did not back his state of emergency decree, as the constitution requires, the army would take control of the Black Sea state.
Western leaders have urged all parties to exercise restraint in the impoverished Caucasus state of five million. Trouble could threaten a planned oil pipeline through Georgia from neighbouring Azerbaijan to Turkey.
