Salome Gvinashvili says she cannot understand why people don’t celebrate Georgia’s evacuation success
Salome Gvinashvili responded to criticism after praising Georgia’s evacuation, saying it should not turn into political dispute.
Georgia’s citizens returning home from the Middle East has become more than a logistical story, turning into a new public battleground.
After Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze thanked the government for arranging charter flights, attention also shifted to TV host Salome Gvinashvili, who returned on one of those flights from Abu Dhabi.. Her remark that “it seems we were the only country that managed to evacuate its population” sparked sharp debate online.
In this context, the discussion quickly moved from the broader issue of evacuation to details about who gets placed on flights and under what process.
Another TV presenter, Nanuka Jorjoliani, publicly challenged Gvinashvili’s statement, saying access to the plane was not about freely buying tickets, but rather about “government lists.” Jorjoliani argued that the list determines who can travel, implying that decisions are made by authorities and that passengers cannot simply choose to board.
Gvinashvili responded the same day with a longer post, saying she honestly does not understand why people do not celebrate what Georgia managed to do when many other countries could not. She added that recognizing something positive should not be treated as controversial.
This matters because evacuation efforts are emotionally charged, and when they become a matter of political scoring, public trust and focus can shift away from the families affected by the situation.
Gvinashvili also addressed the criticism directed at her personally, saying she and her husband are not government representatives, do not work in public service, and receive nothing from anyone. She emphasized that she and her family live on their own work and income.
She further said she believes everyone understands that discussions about “government lists” do not match reality and therefore she would not continue that part of the debate. In closing, Gvinashvili thanked those who simply felt relief at her safe return to Georgia.
By framing the issue around appreciation rather than confrontation, Misryoum readers can see how a single sentence about evacuation quickly expanded into a wider argument over fairness, process, and politics.
In the end, the message that resonated most in her reply was that whatever happens, the country remains a shared home, and public disagreements should not drown out the basic fact of getting people back safely.