Danish Ambassador summoned to Georgian foreign office over comment on former PM

On January 11, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia summoned the Ambassador of Denmark, Anne Toft Sørensen, for referring to Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and the recently inaugurated honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, as an “oligarch” in her article dedicated to Georgia’s European integration, published on January 10 on the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

The official statement posted by the Foreign Ministry said the Ambassador was summoned due to incorrectly interpreted facts and political statements” made in the publication. The MFA said these “evaluative statements lacking objectivity” are not conducive to creating a positive image of Georgia. The Ministry also highlighted that “certain forces used given publication for political interpretations, which, naturally, impeding the effective realization of the main objective set by the European Union – depolarization.”

“We now see extracts of the Danish article used out of context in the Georgian debate,” the Danish Embassy in Georgia explained in a statement, adding that “the embassy has no desire to contribute to this and has no further comments.“