Iran has assailed Georgia, in particular Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani, for not being neighborly. Tehran’s burst of criticism came in response to recent comments by Tsulukiani that were seen as disparaging of Iran and Iranians.
Tsulukiani sparked the diplomatic spat on March 9, expressing approval in a television interview of changes to immigration procedures that have prevented thousands of potential Chinese, Iranian, Iraqi and Egyptian visitors from entering the country. Tsulukiani also said that in the future Georgia would only allow “well-wishers” to enter the country, prompting rights activists and the Iranian embassy to assume that Iranians were not regarded among the country’s well-wishers.
An Iranian government press release described the justice minister’s comments as “incompetent and ignorant.”
“The restrictions placed upon Iranian investors and tourists can be regarded as Georgia’s loss of Iranian friends’ skills, capital and valuable services,” the statement added.
The Georgian minister met with the Islamic Republic’s Ambassador Abbas Talebifar on March 10. After the meeting, Tsulukiani put down the incident to miscommunication and claimed that Iranian-Georgian friendship is as strong as ever.
The government insists that tightening immigration rules for Iranians and other nationals was required under an association agreement that Georgia signed with the European Union in 2014. However, some observers suspect that authorities had an additional motive for strengthening procedures: to pander to conservative, anti-immigrant voters.
Georgia tightened visa, residency and naturalization rules last year. The changes, which were spearheaded by Tsulukiani, faced criticism from some corners for being vaguely worded and inconsistently enforced.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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