Kobakhidze criticizes MEPs who call Ivanishvili 'oligarch'
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Chairman of Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze has responded to the conference held by European Parliamentarian Anna Fotiga regarding Georgia and said that the statements made there 'have no value'.
Kobakhidze also called on the public to "be attentive to each message of such people."
"First of all, the evaluation of these people, the statement has no value. We know very well what motivates these people, and most importantly, we know that the good of our country does not motivate these people. Therefore, society should evaluate all their messages. There is some kind of global war party that wants to disrupt the peace in Georgia, the second front, and behind such conversations there are relevant interests, desires, and it is important that the society be attentive to each message of such people," said Kobakhidze.
The MEPs also highlighted the oligarchy of Bidzina Ivanishvili, to which Kobakhidze said that "every person inside or outside the country who talks about this is an agent of the war party."
"When specific people call Bidzina Ivanishvili an oligarch, demand his sanctioning, it is not only an unfair statement, assessment, it is dirt, and whoever does this is in the service of dirt. There is a simple explanation for this - all people inside the country, outside, who say "Bidzina Ivanishvili is an oligarch and should be sanctioned, is an agent. I will say this directly, everyone who says this is usually an agent of the war party," said Kobakhidze.
"Oligarch, Russian Connections, War in Ukraine and the Future of Georgia" conference was held in Brussels, where former US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly, Florida International University researcher and former State Department official David Kramer and Anna Fotiga discussed the influence of Bidzina Ivanishvili in Georgia. They talked about the country's from the European course.
Ian Kelly noted that the attacks of the Georgian authorities on the US and the West "force them to think about the issue of supporting Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations".
David Kramer responded to the position of the Georgian government on the ongoing war in Ukraine and noted that "Georgia is obliged to stand by Ukraine."
Also, after the conference, they emphasized that there is a clear desire of Georgian citizens to join the European family. Anna Fotiga expressed her hope that "dream will understand people's desire to join the European family as soon as possible."
