Georgian speaker accuses opposition of acting as “foreign-controlled puppets”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused opposition figures of acting as “ordinary puppets with Georgian surnames and passports," who, he says, are controlled from outside with the aim of harming their own country. 

His remarks were triggered by reports of direct coordination of Georgian opposition forces from Brussels: as Prime Time wrote, local opposition groups had allegedly received a pre-prepared text from the EU, which was then read almost verbatim at a briefing outside parliament by one of the organisers, Levan Dzhobava, Caliber.Az reports via Georgian media.

“First and foremost, it has once again been confirmed to what extent radicalism in Georgia is under control; the direct, daily management of processes from abroad, where every word is pre-scripted and every step carefully calculated, exemplifies how the radical opposition and foreign-funded NGOs operate today. So this is a disgraceful fact,” Papuashvili stated.

A day earlier, Georgian civil society groups and opposition activists held a briefing in Tbilisi, during which Levan Jobava read a joint statement marking the approach of November 28, the date they say will mark one year since the government “rejected Georgia’s European path.”

The statement — delivered on behalf of civil organisations, protest groups, political parties and jailed activists — accused the ruling party of undermining Georgia’s statehood and ignoring the will of the majority.

It said the public’s response to “systematic pressure and repression” was continued resistance and solidarity, vowing that the government had “failed to break the movement.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada