Epress.am News from Armenia
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili are the same, reads a post on Facebook by controversial art director Robert Sturua (pictured), who was recently dismissed from his post at the Tbilisi-based Rustaveli Theatre.
Making comparisons between the two states, Sturua said that in Russia, there is the United Russia political party, whereas in Georgia, there are the “Nationalists” (the United National Movement party); in Russia, there is the “abnormal desire” to keep the presidential seat, and in Georgia, for the same reasons there are “tantrums, tears and broken ashtrays.”
“Calm down; you’ve taken everything away from the people, and now, like Putin, you are robbing us of the right to vote for a president! And for another 12 years in our country, a sick, maniac, mediocre semi-degenerate person is going to be president. Tell me, if this cluster of evil should rule an almost nonexistent Georgia?” Sturua wrote on his Facebook page, reports Georgia Online.
Recall, the prominent artistic director had said that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili cannot love Georgia because he is (secretly) of Armenian descent. Then, responding to criticism of that statement, Sturua added fuel to the fire by saying that he is under no obligation to love blacks, claiming that they are culturally inferior to him.
Georgia’s Ministry of Culture subsequently dismissed the prominent artistic director for his overtly xenophobic comments, though Sturua believes he was fired because he is critical of the Georgian government.
“As for my statement about the fact that I do not want my president to be Armenian, I don’t consider it offensive. If any Armenian or Russian says that he dreams that his president is Georgian, I apologize,” he had said earlier.
“I have many Armenian friends, and even my aunt is Armenian,” said Sturua, once again stressing that there was no traces of racism in his statements, so he will not be apologizing for them.