Ex-Pres Saakashvili mocks opposition leader Gvaramia over call to 'become Avtandils'

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has mocked opposition politician Nika Gvaramia over his call for Georgians to "be Avtandils" and unite in defence of the country.

Gvaramia, a leader of the Coalition for Change, wrote on social media that Georgians should be neither "Hamlets" nor "Don Quixotes", but "Avtandils" who should unite when the homeland is under threat.

In response, Saakashvili sarcastically questioned Gvaramia's use of literary references, writing - "What Cervantes, what Avtandil?"

Avtandil is the principal character in Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther's Skin, one of the defining works of Georgian literature.

Saakashvili said Gvaramia could simply have written that sacrificing oneself for the homeland was "complete nonsense", adding that the opposition would then have disagreed with him and continued along its separate political paths.

He ended his post with a joke, asking followers not to tag Avtandil or notify him if the fictional character had a Facebook page.