Opposition accuses ruling party of encouraging violence as GD head calls opposition members neo-Bolsheviks

The Republican Party chair Khatuna Samnidze has accused the head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, of encouraging violence as the latter called several members of the opposition neo-Bolsheviks “who are fighting against the national identity, values and worthy ancestors.” 

The comment on Tuesday came on the heels of the recent attack of two members of the Republican Party, Sammnidze and Berdzenishvili, in central Tbilisi for the criticism of Georgian King Erekle II for signing a treaty with Russia back in 1783 by David Berdzenishvili’s brother, former politician and professor Levan Berdzenishvili. 

“The Berdzenishvili, the Bokeria, the Saakashvili, the Gvaramis and others are neo -Bolsheviks who are trying today to destroy with propaganda what their ideological ancestors, the Bolsheviks, attempted to destroy. We will not allow this,” Kobakhidze said.

“You can see that some worthy Georgians have been singled out [by them] to diminish their names. They (the opposition members) are trying to destroy the identity of our country and the  people,” Kobakhidze stated. 

He continued by saying that “Levan Berdzenishvili is a person who can be included in the Guinness Book of Records. This is the man who could not understand most of the books he had read,” noting that the “brother Berdzenishvili have a special hatred towards the Georgian people.” 

Responding to the statement Samnidze said that “it is the Georgian Dream authorities who push radical groups to attack their political opponents and those the GD dislike.”