Speaker of Georgian Parliament apologizes for Saakashvili's behaviour during reception on US warship

David Usupashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, has apologized to the diplomats, who were present at the reception hosted by the US Navy warship in Batumi, for the behaviour of President Mikhail Saakashvili. According to political analyst Tornike Chulukhadze, mutual public criticism expressed by Saakashvili and Prime Minister Ivanishvili creates a bad image of the country.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 11 the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Prime Minister Ivanishvili expressed different views on Georgia's role in the events of August 2008 at the official reception onboard the US warship BULKELEY that arrived in Batumi.

According to Usupashvili, during the reception, a dialogue took place of Saakashvili with Ivanishvili regarding the former's appearance, for which later Ivanishvili was accused of ignorance of Georgian realities.

In particular, the Prime Minister drew attention to the tulip in the buttonhole of Saakashvili's jacket and asked him about its meaning. In response, Saakashvili explained that this was a symbol of remembrance to those killed in the conflict, the TV Channel "Rustavi-2" reported.

According to Professor Nika Chitadze, the President of the Centre for Studying Georgia's Security and International Cooperation Issues, both the Premier and the Speaker of Parliament realize that they both, in fact, "lost the meeting on the US warship".

According to his version, the Speaker should not have intervened in the situation and apologized for the President.