On Thursday, Danish Ambassador to Georgia Anne Toft Sørensen was summoned to Georgia’s foreign office after she referred to former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, as an “oligarch” in an article published in the Danish media on Wednesday.
In the article, uploaded onto Danish news portal Jyllands-Posten, Sørensen said “the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili built a fortune in Russia in the 90s”.
Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of Georgian Dream Kakha Kaladze labelled the Ambassador’s comment as “filth”.
“The Danish Ambassador’s statement is simply filth,” he said. “The public knows very well what Bidzina Ivanishvili has done for our country, the most important thing being defeating the terrible, bloody [UNM] regime in 2012.”
Beka Davituliani, a GD MP, said the diplomat’s words were “completely unacceptable,” adding “it is not her job to interfere in the internal political processes and internal affairs of the country.”
Ivanishvili made a second “return” to politics at the end of December to take on the position of “Honorary Chairman” of the Georgian Dream party.
The Danish Embassy commented that an “excerpt from a Danish article was being used out of context in the Georgian debates,” and said it had “no desire to contribute” to said debate.
By Team GT
