Monthly Archives: July 2017

I hope there will be a dialogue about selling Georgia anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons: policy specialist

By | July 30th, 2017|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , |

Daniel Kochis (Heritage Foundation) Voice of America’s Anna Kalandadze spoke to Daniel Kochis, a Europe policy specialist in the Margaret Thatcher’s Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, a US Conservative think tank, ahead of US Vice President’s visit to Tbilisi. […]

Saakashvili threatens with new revolution in Ukraine

By | July 30th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: |

Mikheil Saakashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s former president, who was recently stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, vowed Saturday to return to Kyiv and oust President Poroshenko, his one-time ally. Mikheil Saakashvili was speaking to Georgian TV station Rustavi 2 from […]

Georgian MP fined for wearing pistol at rally against extremism

By | July 26th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , |

Otar Kakhidze appeared with a pistol in his belt during a recent rally against extremism. TBILISI, DFWatch–A Georgian opposition member of parliament was fined 200 USD on Wednesday for demonstratively wearing a pistol in his belt during a rally against far right extremists. Otar Kakhidze, a lawyer who represents European Georgia in the national assembly, […]

Former president of Georgia stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship

By | July 26th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |

Mikheil Saakashvili in November, 2016. TBILISI, DFWatch–Ukraine has stripped former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of his citizenship, shortly after a visit to Georgia by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. A Ukrainian member of parliament first reported it on Facebook, and the information […]

Nationalists hurl eggs and bottles at European Georgia march

By | July 23rd, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Plastic bottles, eggs, brooms and other objects were hurled at people marching through the center of Tbilisi Sunday evening to protest against what they call ‘Russian fascism in Georgia’. The march was organized by political party European Georgia, […]

Georgian opposition TV claims tax debt used to silence its voice

By | July 21st, 2017|Categories: Media|Tags: , |

Rustavi 2 director Nika Gvaramia. TBILISI, DFWatch–The director of Georgia’s biggest opposition TV company claims the government is using tax laws to to get it off air ahead of the local elections in October. “TV company Rustavi 2 is again under threat […] The state is seemingly preparing for a decisive blow […]

Independent candidate for mayor vows to halt Tbilisi building spree

By | July 21st, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

Aleko Elisashvili, the popular independent candidate for Tbilisi mayor, vows to halt an ongoing construction boom that is rapidly changing the old city’s aesthetic looks. TBILISI, DFWatch–The independent candidate for Tbilisi mayor Aleko Elisashvili vows to suspend all construction projects in Tbilisi until there have been carried out comprehensive studies into all the schemes to see whether they are compatible with the urban fabric of the Georgian capital. […]

Trump picks new Afghanistan ambassador who served in Georgia

By | July 21st, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , |

John Bass at the opening of the Batumi Center for Civic Engagement April 5, 2012. He was – U.S. Ambassador to Georgia at the time. (Archil Talakvadze/Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch–US President Donald Trump has nominated former Ambassador to Georgia John Bass as new ambassador to Afghanistan. Bass currently serves as the US ambassador to Turkey. From 2009 to 2012, he served as ambassador to Georgia. He was nominated […]

Georgia suspends two officials while investigating journalist’s abduction

By | July 21st, 2017|Categories: Media|Tags: , |

Interior Minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili said the two officials are suspended to eliminate all suspicion. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The government in Georgia has suspended two high ranking officials to ensure the impartiality of an investigation into the alleged abduction of an Azerbaijani investigative journalist. The decision comes after immense pressure from human rights groups, […]

German Greens MEP backs Gülen school official’s plea against extradition

By | July 17th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , |

Rebecca Harms. (Rustavi 2.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The head of the Greens faction in the EU parliament calls on Georgia not to extradite a school manager to Turkey. “To be a teacher is not a crime,” said Rebecca Harms, a German politician who is current head of the Greens-European Free Alliance in the EU parliament. […]

Rally in Tbilisi to demand ‘illegal’ immigrants kicked out

By | July 15th, 2017|Categories: Minorities|Tags: , , , , |

Organizers of the rally, including Sandro Bregadze (right), hold an icon of King Davit IV Aghmashenebeli. (Facebook/Nini Ketelauri.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Nationalist groups in Georgia mobilized supporters Friday for an anti-immigration rally in the center of Tbilisi. Activists carrying flags and slogans for nationalist causes demanded ‘illegal’ immigrants kicked out of the country and called on authorities to bring […]

Anti-immigration activists plan rally in Tbilisi Friday evening

By | July 14th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

The rally is being organized by Sandro Bregadze. TBILISI, DFWatch–Nationalists in Georgia plan an anti-immigration rally in the center of Tbilisi Friday evening. The rally, which will take place on Aghmashenebeli Avenue at 8pm, will take aim at illegal immigration, especially from Muslim countries. One of their demands is to close down […]

Constitutional Court overturns ban on gay men donating blood – again

By | July 13th, 2017|Categories: Minorities|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s Constitutional Court has overturned a ban on donation of blood by men who have had sex with other men. The lawsuit to lift the ban was filed by LGBT rights activists Gocha Gabodze and Levan Berianidze. The ban on donating blood for ‘a man who has had a sexual […]

Detained Gülen school director to ask for asylum to avoid extradition

By | July 12th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–A detained Gülen school official is asking for asylum in Georgia in order to avoid extradition to Turkey, where he may face brutal and inhumane treatment, according to his lawyers. Georgia detained Mustafa Emre Cabuk in May. He is one of the managers of Demirel […]

Five foreign tourists rescued by helicopter in Caucasus mountain range

By | July 10th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Five foreign tourists were rescued by helicopter from a mountain plateau in the main Caucasus range Saturday after being isolated by a flooded stream. Personnel from the Emergency Management Agency used helicopters belonging to the border […]

Separatists deny leader injured in car crash visiting other breakaway region

By | July 8th, 2017|Categories: News|

The de facto presidents of Georgia’s two breakaway territories: Raul Khajimba (Abkhazia) (left) and Anatoly Bibilov (South Ossetia). (Photo published by the office of Abkhazia’s de facto president.) TBILISI, DFWatch–The separatists in one of Georgia’s two breakaway regions denied a report in Russian media that their leader was injured in a car crash Saturday while visiting another separatist region. Anatoly Bibilov, the de facto president of the tiny enclave South Ossetia, […]

Indian citizen refused entry to Georgia twice without being given a reason

By | July 6th, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–An Indian businessman was refused entry to Georgia for the second time on Wednesday, after a similar incident two days earlier. A lawyer for Akbar Khan Qureshi said the young Indian entrepreneur again was turned away in the border control at Tbilisi airport […]

Two men rescued by helicopter from flooded river in Samegrelo

By | July 6th, 2017|Categories: In brief|Tags: , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Two men were rescued by a police helicopter in Western Georgia on Wednesday. The two got stuck in the middle of a flooded river near the village Khabume in Samegrelo. Local rescue workers were unable to bring the two men out of the river Khobistskali, […]

2,500 sqm destroyed by fire at Tbilisi’s largest market

By | July 3rd, 2017|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–A fire tore through Georgia’s largest outdoors market Sunday evening, leaving at least four people hospitalized, including one firefighter, and devastating up to 2,500 square meters of commercial space, officials said. The fire at Eliava bazaar in Tbilisi […]