Kobakhidze Accuses Western Partners of Backing 'Overthrow and Violence' After Election-Day Unrest
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has accused Georgia's Western partners, including the United States and the European Union, of indirectly supporting what he described as an attempted overthrow of the government during the October 4 unrest in Tbilisi. Speaking at a briefing on October 8, Kobakhidze criticized the West for failing to condemn the incident and for issuing statements he said encouraged instability.
"It has already been four days since a violent storming of Georgia's presidential palace was carried out with the declared goal of overthrowing the government elected by the Georgian people," Kobakhidze said. "However, during these days, not a single organization or state - including the United States, the European Union, and certain EU member states - which usually claim the right to promptly assess Georgia's internal political developments, criticize the country, and issue instructions to it, has made a statement condemning or distancing itself from the attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government and the violent assault on the presidential palace."
He went on to say that "the failure to distance oneself from and condemn the attempt to overthrow the government and the violence can easily be interpreted as an indirect yet clear expression of support for overthrow and violence."
International organizations, including the European Union and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said the lack of credible observation undermined the transparency of the elections and noted low voter turnout. They called for calm and restraint while urging the government to respect citizens' rights to assembly and free expression. None of Georgia's traditional Western partners congratulated the ruling party on the election results.
Kobakhidze reserved particular criticism for the European People's Party (EPP), calling its reaction a "clear example of the tragic political situation unfolding in the EU." The EPP had issued a statement describing the October 4 elections as "sham elections," referring to Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili as an "oligarch," and alleging that the vote took place "amid mass repression and violence against the regime's opponents." The EPP also called on the EU to impose targeted sanctions on Ivanishvili and "his enablers."
"At a time when the United National Movement and other radical opposition forces attempted to overthrow the government elected by the Georgian people and severely assaulted several police officers - two of whom narrowly escaped death, thanks to God - the European People's Party is calling not for sanctions against the perpetrators and enemies of Georgian democracy, but against Bidzina Ivanishvili and other leaders of the ruling party," Kobakhidze said. "This statement by the EPP best helps Georgian society understand the tragic outcome to which the loss of sovereignty and the externally controlled European bureaucracy have brought the European Union."
He added that statements by Western organizations "that cannot hide their irritation toward the Georgian people, its choice, and its uncompromising struggle for peace will have no value - neither now nor in the future."
"Over 35 years of independent political life, and especially during the past five years, Georgian society has gained considerable experience, and, along with that experience, wisdom, to accurately judge who is its friend and who does not wish good for our country," he said.
When asked by reporters about his increasingly sharp rhetoric toward the EU, Kobakhidze drew a controversial historical comparison. "Europe, as such, is no panacea - Mr. Goebbels, too, was Europe," he said, referring to Nazi Germany's propaganda minister. He added that "the shameful lies and statements we hear from the European bureaucracy are truly a continuation of Goebbels-style propaganda," and warned that such propaganda "must not return to Europe 80 years after the 1940s."
Kobakhidze also criticized Washington, saying the U.S. State Department should "prove that it acts not under the influence of the deep state, but in accordance with the genuine interests of the American people." He said that "the simplest proof of this would be to condemn the attempt to overthrow the government."
