Tag Archives: Georgia

Armenian priest attacked in TBI

JULY 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A crowd of up to 50 people in Tbilisi reportedly attacked and beat an Armenian priest outside an Armenian Cathedral, media said. They reported that the trigger for the attack was an argument over parking. Armenia has called for an immediate investigation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgia buried Shevardnadze

JULY 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia buried its former president Eduard Shevardnadze with full military honours at his residence outside Tbilisi. Shevardnadze had been the Soviet Union’s foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. Former US Secretary of State James Baker and other high profile foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgian Dream wins Tbilisi

JULY 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian Dream, a political coalition set up in 2012 by Georgia’s richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili, completed its clean sweep of the country’s major political offices by winning a run-off in the Tbilisi mayoral election. Davit Narmania, the Georgian Dream candidate, won with nearly 75% of the vote.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Moscow police arrested Wealthy Armenian

JULY 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Moscow arrested one of Armenia’s richest men as he returned from Monaco and charged him with links to Russian mafia, media reported.

The arrest of Levon Hayrapetian, 65, and the subsequent trial, may shed light on murky connections between some of Armenia’s rich and organised crime. It also drew anger from Nagorno-Karabakh, where Mr Hayrapetian has supported Armenian rebels against Azerbaijani forces. Mr Hayrapetian is a native of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bizarrely, 674 couples that Mr Hayrapetian organised a mass marriage ceremony for in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2008 called for his release.

“Thanks to Hayrapetian’s sponsorship of the mass wedding, hundreds of families were formed in Artsakh, and in the last six years, around 1,200 children have been born,” they said in a joint statement quoted by the media.

“Being well aware of Levon Hayrapetian’s high human values, we are convinced that the accusations against him are groundless.”

Artsakh is the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mr Hayrapetian is accused of having links to the Russian crime boss Sergei Finagin. He was charged with money laundering and embezzlement on July 24.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgia supports NATO

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Confirming its support for NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, Georgia said it would commit 750 soldiers to the non-combat mission phase, media reported. Georgia has been using its military as an extension of its diplomatic arm, supporting missions to curry favour with NATO which it hopes to join.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgia charges Saakashvili

JULY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prosecutors in Georgia charged former president Mikheil Saakashvili with illegally breaking up an anti-government demonstration in 2007, taking over a television station and expropriating a businessman’s assets.

Mr Saakashvili, who has previously declined to appear in front of a court to face the charges, described them as politically motivated.

Georgian politics is sharply polarised and since the Georgian Dream coalition, led by Georgia’s richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili, came to power in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and the presidential vote in 2013 it has chased and charged Mr Saakashvili’s former associates with various crimes.

Both the EU and the US have criticised the Georgian Dream for persecuting former high-ranking officials but, despite Georgia’s continued pro-Western agenda, they have been unable to stop the charges.

Mr Saakashvili left Georgia last year, after the presidential election, to avoid facing charges which he said would be fabricated and levied against him.

The United States considered Mr Saakashvili a key ally and charges levied against him will irritate them.

“Commitment to the rule of law means both that everyone must comply with the law in a democratic society and that the legal system should not be used as a tool of political retribution,” the US State Department said in a statement.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgia’s richest men to host talk show

JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and leader of the coalition that defeated former president Mikheil Saakashvili in three consecutive elections, will host a talk show, media reported. This is important as it gives Mr Bidzina, who is a former Georgian PM, a direct voice to ordinary Georgians.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Ex-mayor arrested in Georgia

JULY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police arrested the former mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, for money laundering. Supporters of Mr Ugulava denounced the allegations as politically motivated and part of a plot to blacken the reputation of senior officials linked to the administration of former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Prices fall in Georgia

JULY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia fell 0.9% from May to June, the national statistics agency reported. The biggest fall was in food and non-alcoholic drinks. The South Caucasus have seen a drop in overall prices over the last few months.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)

Prominent Georgian politician dies

JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Eduard Shevardnadze, a foreign minister of the Soviet Union and president of independence Georgia, died in a Tbilisi aged 86.

Tributes poured in from around the world for one of Georgia’s most recognisable modern-day politicians.

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili described Shevardnadze as “one of the most distinguished politicians of the 20th century.”

His friend and political ally, the former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev said: “He was an important contribution to the foreign policy of perestroika and was an ardent supporter of new thinking in world affairs.”

From Washington, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State said: “(Shevardnadze) played an instrumental role with President Gorbachev, President Reagan, and Secretary Shultz in bringing the Cold War to an end.”

But Shevardnadze leaves behind a mixed legacy.

As Mr Gorbaechev’s surprise choice as foreign minister for the Soviet Union in 1985, Shevardnadze was instrumental in rolling back Communism. He helped pull the Soviet military out of Eastern Europe and Afghanistan; gave a taciturn nod to the reunification of Germany.

Shevardnadze quit in 1990 because he feared a reactionary response but was persuaded back at the end of 1991, becoming the last foreign minister of the Soviet Union.

As president of independent Georgia, though, Shevardnadze’s reputation is far more ambiguous. He governed from 1993 until a revolution in 2003 toppled him. That revolution, later dubbed the Rose Revolution, ushered Mikheil Saakashvili into power and his staunchly pro-Western agenda.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)