Georgian Dream MP Irakli Zarkua has proposed expelling foreign ambassadors critical of the Georgian government, with particular emphasis on German Ambassador Peter Fischer.
Zarkua criticised foreign ambassadors on Tuesday while speaking to reporters in parliament.
‘This is my subjective opinion: ambassadors who are being destructive, replacing radicals and acting against the state, I believe they should be expelled’, he said, according to IPN .
He first listed British Ambassador Gareth Ward amongst diplomats he would like to see expelled, saying the UK ‘still has a colonial attitude toward small states’. Zarkua added that London cannot accept that the era of ‘ambassadors acting like governors, including in Georgia’ was over.
Zarkua said that ‘the network of agents’ — a term Georgian Dream often uses to refer to Georgian opposition parties and non-governmental organisations — could not accomplish anything, that their ‘revolution attempts’ failed, and ‘now ambassadors have replaced them’.
‘So, the ambassadors have become radicals, including the British one’, he added.
The Georgian Dream MP has also attacked German Ambassador Fischer, who regularly criticises the ruling party’s policies and anti-Western rhetoric. Most recently, Fischer prompted Georgian Dream’s displeasure by visiting opposition politician Elene Khoshtaria, who, along with several others, had been on a hunger strike for three days outside parliament.
‘Khoshtaria ended her hunger strike, and hopefully Gedi [Popkhadze] did too, but maybe German Ambassador Fischer has taken their place — he’s become so fixated and has crossed every line of diplomatic duty and responsibility. The guy has basically turned into an outright radical’, Zarkua said, adding that ‘In these circumstances, I might raise the issue of expelling this ambassador, because instead of promoting healthy relations between the Georgian and German people, he is fueling confrontation between the countries’.
Georgia’s relations with its Western allies have sharply deteriorated since early 2022, following the ruling party’s adoption of several pieces of repressive legislation, as well as the widespread violations that were documented during October 2024’s parliamentary elections.
Relations plummeted further still after the Georgian government announced it was freezing its EU membership bid, violently dispersing protesters against the decision and passing a new barrage of restrictive laws.
Georgian Dream has often responded to Western criticism with sharp accusations. In addition to personal attacks, the ruling party has significantly intensified its general anti-Western rhetoric and promotion of conspiracy theories, including claims that a ‘global war party’ and a ‘deep state’ sought to destabilise Georgia and drag it into a war with Russia.
In the latest diplomatic escalation, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office of the UK summoned Georgia’s chargé d'affaires to express its opposition towards Georgian Dream’s policies and the arrest of the opposition leaders. Moreover, according to a press release, a senior official ‘strongly objected to false claims and public attacks launched by Georgian Dream against the UK and international partners’.
In response, Georgian Dream’s Secretary General and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze claimed that Georgia is not fighting Europe, the UK, or the United States, but rather is ‘defending itself from injustice’.
OC Media
