Senior Diplomat Tornike Parulava Dismissed Amid Ministry Restructuring, Says Euro-Atlantic Integration Efforts Dismantled
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Tornike Parulava, Director of the Euro-Atlantic Integration Department at Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced his dismissal this week, claiming that the move was part of a broader effort to dismantle departments responsible for European and Euro-Atlantic coordination.
Parulava, who served nearly 24 years in the diplomatic service, announced in a lengthy social media post. He also revealed that his wife, an employee of the Parliament's Committee on European Integration, was dismissed the same week.
According to Parulava, the entire department he led was terminated without any discussion of pending work or transition planning. He described the recent restructuring at the ministry as unprecedented in its intent and impact.
"This latest 'reorganization' stood out," Parulava wrote. "For the first time, one of its main objectives seemed to be the destruction of collegial relationships among ministry employees rather than fostering healthy competition - and this goal has been achieved."
He added that the restructuring appeared designed to erase institutional memory, noting that most remaining diplomats had been reassigned in ways that effectively erased years of accumulated experience.
"Starting July 1, we begin with a clean slate - this goal, too, has been achieved," he wrote.
Parulava argued that the reorganization specifically targeted subdivisions coordinating Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration efforts, particularly those responsible for presenting interagency and sectoral reforms to Brussels.
"The units responsible for coordinating interagency and sectoral reform processes and presenting them to Brussels have been eliminated," he wrote. "This directly indicates that, even in the long term, no one intends to continue these processes."
He warned that by the time Georgia reaches its stated goal of EU membership by 2028, it could be even further behind in integration efforts than it is today.
Parulava also criticized how the process was carried out, calling it "inhumane." He stated that the dismissals were delivered without warning, communication, or any effort to mitigate their impact on the staff.
"The culmination came at the end of the week - dismissal orders were issued on Saturday night and Sunday, on a conveyor-belt basis," he said. "The word 'inhumane' probably best describes it all."
He concluded by expressing pride in having been fully affected by the process, stating that after more than two decades of service, he was let go without a conversation or any formal handover.
"One more personal note - at the end of that same week, on July 5, my wife received her dismissal order from the Parliament's Committee on European Integration," Parulava wrote.
