Legacy of Georgia’s first government head marked in symbolic occasion
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Descendants of independent Georgia's first prime minister attended a symbolic brief return of late Noe Ramishvili's credentials to his homeland earlier today.
Arriving on a short visit from their residence in France, Ramishvili's grandson Michel and other relatives brought with them the late Georgian politician's passport for a historic occasion.
In a symbolic act upon entering the country's territory the passport was stamped at the Tbilisi International Airport.
For his descendants the occasion signified a return of the head of Georgian Democratic Republic's 1918 government to his country more than 90 years after he was forced to emigrate to France.
Michel Ramishvili, grandson of Georgia's 1918 government head Noe Ramishvili, attended the stamping of the late Georgian politician's passport at the Tbilisi International Airport today. Photo by Ministry of Justice of Georgia press office.
Issued in 1925, the French passport was granted to Ramishvili who resided at a chateau in Leuville-sur-Orge - 30km south of Paris - that also housed other members of Georgia's exiled government.
Georgian politicians of the three-year Democratic Republic were forced to leave the country following the 1921 invasion of Soviet armies that terminated the short-lived Georgian independence.
Ramishvili served as prime minister of the government before accepting three simultaneous positions as the head of the fledging state's interior, education and defence ministries.
Following the 1921 emigration to France he continued efforts against the forcefully established Bolshevik regime in Georgia, supporting the ultimately unsuccessful 1924 anti-Soviet uprising in Georgia.
Noe Ramishvili's grandson Michel (R) met Minister of Justice of Georgia Tea Tsulukiani today in a discussion on the ongoing process of handing the Leuville Chateau from France to Georgia. Photo by Ministry of Justice of Georgia press office.
Ramishvili was killed in Paris in 1930 by a Georgian emigrant regarded by many in the Georgian diaspora in France as a Soviet agent.
Ramishvili's descendants arrived in Tbilisi today for a short visit that included meetings with Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Giorgi Mghebrishvili and Minister of Justice of Georgia Tea Tsulukiani.
The visiting emigres discussed with Tsulukiani the ongoing process of handing the Leuville Chateau from France to Georgia as talks and preparations for the occasion entered the final phase in 2015.
Michel Ramishvili and descendants of other members of the exiled Georgian government worked to preserve the Leuville venue over the recent decades.
A French chateau with significant ties with Georgia will be transformed into a "centre of Georgian culture” announced Georgia’s Prime Minister while speaking about the transfer of ownership of the historically important estate to Georgia.
A group of well-known Parisian architects and designers will be part of a team to remodel the historic Leuville Chateau, which is a place of extreme importance for Georgia and its people.
A historic castle in the small French village of Leuville could soon become property of Georgia in recognition of the country’s connection to the site.
About 30km south of Paris is Leuville-sur-Orge, which some describe as a ‘small Georgia’. The area is symbolic for Georgians, with its castle and orthodox cemetery.
Georgia is celebrating the anniversary of a landmark historical document that formed the basis of the country’s contemporary constitution nearly a century ago today.
A poignant display opening today in Tbilisi will tell the personal stories of citizens exiled and persecuted during the brutal political repressions of the Soviet regime in Georgia.
Details of an important chapter of Georgia’s historical struggle for independence have been uncovered in vaults of a University of Oxford library in the United Kingdom, through a century-old petition addressed by the people of the country to a major international peace conference.
The first ever ambassador of France to Georgia, the late Bernard Fassie, was awarded with the order of honour by the president of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in France yesterday.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili paid tribute to Noe Ramishvili, the former Georgian Interior Minister, Chair of the Government and Defence Minister, on his birthday on April 5.
Garibashvili noted Ramishvili was regarded as the “most important figure” in the Georgian Government by his contemporaries as the latter dedicated his life to Georgia’s independence and European future.