Georgian Speaker warns of “false teachings” in defiant Independence Day address

Georgia’s Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, used the country’s Independence Day celebrations on Monday to warn against what he described as “false oaths, false intentions, and false teachings” threatening national unity.

“All those who bring false oaths, false intentions, and false teachings sow discord, division, hatred, and evil. We cannot leave the fate and future of this country to them.”

The official framed his speech around the “enduring values of homeland, language, and faith” - which he described as “divine treasures” handed down by Georgian ancestors. “If we remain faithful to our homeland, our language, and our faith, no evil force will ever be able to harm us,” he said, invoking the historical legacy of national icons such as King David the Builder and Queen Tamar.

Papuashvili also turned his attention to a delegation from the European Parliament visiting Georgia on the occasion of the holiday. Without naming her directly, he singled out Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė, accusing her of making “fascist statements” about the Georgian people.

“I hope that the first thing she will do when she sets foot on Georgian soil will be to apologize for her fascist statements,” Papuashvili said. “This is the best example of the fact that a friend of [former President] Saakashvili cannot, a priori, be a friend of Georgia.”

He added that those who supported Saakashvili “will never become friends of Georgia,” reiterating a common theme in recent government rhetoric that casts foreign criticism as aligned with internal opposition.

Papuashvili’s speech also included an appeal for unity across ethnic, religious, and geographic lines. “There is strength in unity,” he said. “Regardless of our confession, ethnicity and location, we are a united Georgian people, united by one energy.”

He also repeated Georgia’s long-standing aspiration to reintegrate its breakaway territories, Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), saying, “our most important mission and main national task is to rebuild, together with our Abkhaz and Ossetian sisters and brothers, and to unite our common home - our homeland, our Georgia - with one wall.”