Giorgi Khoshtaria

Giorgi "Gogi" Khoshtaria (Georgian: გიორგი (გოგი) ხოშტარია; born October 4, 1938) is a Georgian art historian and former politician who served as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of post-Soviet Georgia from November 1990 to August 1991. He is ranked as First Class Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Envoy.

Giorgi Khoshtaria
გიორგი ხოშტარია
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
November 1990 – August 1991
PresidentZviad Gamsakhurdia
Prime MinisterTengiz Sigua
Preceded byGiorgi Javakhishvili
Succeeded byMurman Omanidze
Personal details
Born (1938-10-04) 4 October 1938
Tbilisi, Soviet Union
(Now Georgia)
Alma materTbilisi State University
ProfessionArt historian

Career

Gogi Khoshtaria was born in Tbilisi in the family of Georgian intelligentsia. His father, Metode Khoshtaria (1911–1938), a highway engineer and a nephew of the wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist Akaki Khoshtaria, was shot at the age of 27 during the Great Purge. His mother, Tinatin Virsaladze (1907–1985), was an art historian.[1] Gogi Khoshtaria was also trained as an art historian at the Tbilisi State University[2] and pursued an academic career. In the 1980s, he joined the dissident movement and became closely associated with Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who became the first post-Communist leader of Georgia and made Khoshtaria Minister of Foreign Affairs on November 26, 1990.

As a foreign minister, Khoshtaria met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh twice after Georgia's declaration of independence in April 1991, but the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi became increasingly tense and the contacts between the two ministries ceased by mid-1991. Khoshtaria worked with the Turkish government for closer Georgian–Turkish relations and resisted the Soviet attempts to bring these ties under control. He also visited Germany and France in April and the United States in June 1991 to further the Georgian independence cause and lobby for closer economic relations. Despite his efforts, Khoshtaria became alienated from Gamsakhurdia and was dismissed in August 1991. He cited Gamsakhurdia's authoritarian tendencies and failure to immediately denounce the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt as the reasons behind the split.[3][4][5]

After his retirement, Khoshtaria resumed academic career. He lectures at several other academia and is a frequent commentator on culture and monument protection.

References
  1. Kobiashvili, Meri (August 7, 2013). "ზვიად გამსახურდიას ყველაზე დიდი შეცდომა მანანა იყო" [An interview with Giorgi Khoshtaria] (in Georgian). Reitingi. Retrieved March 2, 2014. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Giorgi Khoshtaria". Ex-Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  3. Nichol, James P. (1995). Diplomacy in the Former Soviet Republics. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 142. ISBN 0275951928.
  4. Horowitz, Shale (2005). From Ethnic Conflict to Stillborn Reform: The Former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Texas A&M University Press. p. 98. ISBN 1585443964.
  5. "Georgia Opponents Charge Republic Is Led by Dictator". The New York Times. September 6, 1991. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
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