“Yesterday, the German ambassador was posing with a person who insults the Georgian Church, and I don’t understand how society, let alone myself, should view this. It is absolutely outrageous,” Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili told journalists at a briefing.
According to Papuashvili, Germany’s Foreign Ministry must decide what it wants.
“The German Ambassador is simply making a mockery of the Georgian state, Georgian society, everything connected with diplomacy, and what we have witnessed is truly astonishing. Among other things, we saw that he did not condemn the October 4 storming of the Presidential Palace. Yesterday, he went and expressed support for extremists who were participants in the October 4 assault.
Secondly, he was posing in a photo with one of the extremist participants in the protest, and we only learnt of this by chance. The person with whom he was posing, this individual insults the Georgian Church, Georgia’s Patriarch, and refers to His Holiness as an exarch. The German Ambassador stood with this person, had a photograph taken, and expressed solidarity with him. This reminds me of the line from Michael Roth, who came here and said at the time, ‘What do you want, do you want to achieve happiness together with the Church?’ This is precisely Michael Roth’s line, an attack on the Georgian Church, which Germany’s Ambassador continues today by expressing solidarity with an extremist.
Now I personally await what steps will be taken by Germany’s Foreign Ministry, because the fact is, this individual is making a mockery of the Georgian state and Georgian society,” Papuashvili stated.
According to him, after returning from consultations, there was hope that Germany’s Ambassador would have appreciated the importance of the Vienna Convention, would have re-read the relevant articles once more, and would have restrained himself after all this.
“Mamuka Tsutskridze insults the Church, Georgia’s Patriarch, His Holiness, and refers to him as an exarch. The German Ambassador takes a photograph with him and expresses solidarity. What is this if not making a mockery of our society, and what is it if not an attack on the Georgian Church?
Therefore, Germany’s Foreign Ministry must now decide what it wants. After returning from these consultations, we had hoped that Germany’s Ambassador would have appreciated the importance of the Vienna Convention, would have re-read the relevant articles once more, and would have restrained himself. It has been only a few days, and he has already mocked us, our entire society, our whole state, and has shown solidarity with those who insult the Church.
Let the German Foreign Ministry decide what it wants. Does it want to build bridges with the Georgian people, or does it want to burn those bridges completely? With this Ambassador, who makes a mockery of the Georgian state, expresses solidarity with and supports extremists, under the conditions of this Ambassador, it is difficult to imagine that these bridges will be built from Germany’s side,” Shalva Papuashvili declared.
Moreover, Papuashvili said, the German Foreign Ministry must provide an explanation.
“When Germany’s Foreign Ministry returned Ambassador Fischer, naturally, there were preliminary consultations with Georgia’s Foreign Ministry before his arrival, and they promised the Foreign Ministry that Germany’s Ambassador would refrain from the kind of actions that had occurred previously.
We see the Ambassador with extremists, expressing solidarity with someone who insults the Georgian Church, who insults the Patriarch, His Holiness.
Therefore, Germany’s Foreign Ministry must explain if this is his assignment to express solidarity with those who insult Georgia’s Church, to express support for extremists, or his own initiative.
It is even worse if he did not know with whom he was having his photograph taken. What does it mean that he did not know? As an ambassador, should you not ensure you know where you are going and who you are going with? Don’t you have Georgian or non-Georgian staff to assist with this? If the individual is so unqualified, it is an even greater mockery of the Georgian state,” declared Shalva Papuashvili.
Mamuka Tsutskridze, one of the protest participants, wrote on social media that Peter Fischer, Germany’s Ambassador to Georgia, was on Rustaveli Avenue.
