1. Salome Zourabichvili was born in Paris, France, into a family of Georgian political refugees.
68 Facts About Salome Zourabichvili
1. 2.
Salome Zourabichvili joined the French diplomatic service in the 1970s and over three decades went on to occupy a variety of increasingly senior diplomatic positions.
3.
In 2018, Salome Zourabichvili ran for president as an independent candidate and prevailed in a run-off vote against the UNM nominee Grigol Vashadze.
4.
When Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected as her successor, the validity of the election was contested, with Salome Zourabichvili stating that she remains president until a legitimate replacement can be elected.
5.
Salome Zourabichvili was born into a family of Georgian emigrants that fled to France following the 1921 Red Army invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
6.
Levan's brother, Georges Salome Zourabichvili, was a philosopher and interpreter who was denounced for collaborating with the German occupiers in France and disappeared in 1944.
7.
Salome Zourabichvili's mother, Zeinab Kedia was a daughter of Melkisedek Kedia, who served as the head of the Security Service of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and the sister of Mikhail Kedia, a prominent member of the Wehrmacht's Georgian Legion during World War II.
8.
Salome Zourabichvili has one brother, Othar Zourabichvili, a doctor, writer and chairman of the AGF since 2006.
9.
Salome Zourabichvili was born in Paris on 18 March 1952 and was raised within the Georgian community in France, settled between Paris and Leuville-sur-Orge since the 1921 fall of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
10.
At 17, Salome Zourabichvili received results that allowed her "the privilege of a direct admission in the terrible preparatory year" of the Paris Institute of Political Studies in September 1969, a program out of which only half of its participants reach the Institute after a year.
11.
In 1970, Salome Zourabichvili joined the International Section of Sciences Po, a path toward diplomatic service accessed only by a minority of the 4,000 students at the Institute, of which a third were women.
12.
Salome Zourabichvili studied under a number of well-known French professors, such as historians Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, Louis Chevalier, her cousin Helene Carrere d'Encausse and the international lawyer Suzanne Bastid, the latter two being the only women teaching at Sciences Po.
13.
Salome Zourabichvili concentrated her studies on the Soviet world and graduated in July 1972.
14.
Salome Zourabichvili has said that choosing a career in diplomacy she linked with hopes to one day being instrumental in helping Georgia.
15.
Salome Zourabichvili returned to Sciences Po in 2006, this time as a professor shortly after her departure as Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
16.
Salome Zourabichvili worked until 2014 at the Paris School of International Affairs, teaching the foreign policy of large powers, the post-Soviet world, the development of Eurasia since the fall of the USSR, and the causes for that fall.
17.
From her first marriage to a World Bank economist Nicolas Gorjestani, Salome Zourabichvili has two children: Kethevane and Teymouraz.
18.
Besides French and Georgian, Salome Zourabichvili speaks fluent English and conversational Italian.
19.
Salome Zourabichvili quickly became a career diplomat, serving as Third Secretary in Rome until 1977, under ambassadors Charles Lucet and Francois Puaux, and then as Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of France to the UN until 1980.
20.
In 1992, Salome Zourabichvili was appointed First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of France to NATO in Brussels, before becoming Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the Western European Union, still in Brussels, from 1993 to 1996.
21.
Salome Zourabichvili worked with the Bureau of Strategic Affairs of NATO.
22.
Between 2003 and 2004, Salome Zourabichvili was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Georgia.
23.
Salome Zourabichvili served as the Coordinator of the Panel of Experts for the United Nations Security Council's Iran Sanctions Committee.
24.
Salome Zourabichvili was dismissed by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli on 19 October 2005 after disputes with Parliament members.
25.
On 12 November 2010, Salome Zourabichvili announced her withdrawal from the leadership of Georgia's Way.
26.
On 20 April 2017, during a TV interview, Salome Zourabichvili said that "nothing is out of the question" about her participation in the 2018 presidential elections.
27.
On 23 August 2018, two months before the elections, Salome Zourabichvili relinquished her French citizenship, which she had to renounce to participate in the presidential election.
28.
Salome Zourabichvili wore a white and red ensemble, the colors of the Georgian flag, to the ceremony, designed by Jaba Diasamidze, a Georgian designer working in France.
29.
On 20 April 2021, Salome Zourabichvili hosted an official dinner in honor of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
30.
On 10 March 2020, President Salome Zourabichvili canceled scheduled visits to Bulgaria, Belgium, and Ukraine due to the COVID-19 threat.
31.
On 22 December 2020, Salome Zourabichvili hosted Hans Kluge, Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, at the Orbeliani Palace.
32.
On 26 January 2021, Salome Zourabichvili met with Toivo Klaar, Co-Chair of the Geneva International Talks, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.
33.
On 25 September 2019, Salome Zourabichvili addressed the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
34.
Salome Zourabichvili remarked that both France under Macron and Germany under Scholz had shifted their stance which ante-dated the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War and now embraced expansionary policies.
35.
Salome Zourabichvili announced during the presidential campaign that, if elected, she would not work from the Avlabari Presidential Palace, opened in 2009 during the Presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili.
36.
Besides moving to the smaller residence, Salome Zourabichvili's office faced significant budget cutbacks.
37.
Salome Zourabichvili has increasingly used her veto power against the Parliament, as such, she has vetoed the bill changing the composition of Georgia's National Bank, the bill extending scope and time limits for covert investigations and other bills.
38.
On 1 September 2023, the head of Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his party would launch impeachment proceedings against Salome Zourabichvili, alleging violation of the Constitution on her behalf.
39.
Against this, Salome Zourabichvili launched a series of visits to Europe to meet the European leaders despite the government's refusal to authorize her visits.
40.
On 16 October 2023, in the first impeachment trial against a President in Georgia's history, the Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled that Salome Zourabichvili violated the Constitution, authorizing the Parliament to finalize her impeachment.
41.
Salome Zourabichvili argued that Zourabichvili should resign in disgrace, as, according to him, she no longer represents the Georgian people or the state.
42.
Salome Zourabichvili has warned that, if Georgian Dream secures another term, she could face impeachment and imprisonment.
43.
Salome Zourabichvili has consistently opposed controversial domestic legislation targeting civil society, independent media, and the LGBTQ+ community, vetoing such laws despite her limited success in preventing their enactment.
44.
Salome Zourabichvili argued that the government, once committed to democracy and EU integration, had devolved into a one-party rule, with dissent suppressed and judicial reforms stalled.
45.
Salome Zourabichvili condemned the government's foreign policy shift, especially its growing proximity to Russia.
46.
Salome Zourabichvili emphasized the Charter as an action plan to ensure Georgia's EU integration, prevent a return to Russian influence, and secure the country's progress.
47.
Salome Zourabichvili stated she had met with European leaders who pledged support for Georgia's EU path if the Charter was fully implemented.
48.
Salome Zourabichvili stressed the need for a neutral, technical government during this transitional stage and called on all parties to demonstrate their commitment to the Charter in both spirit and action.
49.
Salome Zourabichvili advocated for greater unity between pro-European opposition forces, focusing on merging Strong Georgia coalition with For Georgia party.
50.
Salome Zourabichvili facilitated discussions by inviting both leaders to the presidential residence.
51.
Salome Zourabichvili appealed to international allies to support the pro-Western opposition and urged citizens to join her in mass protests at Tbilisi's Freedom Square on Rustaveli Avenue to oppose the election results and what she characterized as Russian influence.
52.
Salome Zourabichvili shared details of the meeting on X, highlighting an "in-depth discussion" about the rigged election and the "alarming repression" in Georgia.
53.
Salome Zourabichvili emphasized the need for a strong US and expressed gratitude for Trump's support, calling him a friend to the Georgian people.
54.
Salome Zourabichvili met with Elon Musk, who had been appointed by Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency.
55.
Salome Zourabichvili described the exchange as excellent and expressed anticipation for Musk's visit to Georgia.
56.
Salome Zourabichvili left the official presidential residence, Orbeliani Palace, on 29 December 2024, when Mikheil Kavelashvili was inaugurated.
57.
Salome Zourabichvili said however that she remained the legitimate president.
58.
On 9 January 2025, Salome Zourabichvili held a press briefing at her new office on Chovelidze street, stating that she would continue to work to solve the crisis, meeting people around Georgia and internationally.
59.
Salome Zourabichvili stated that she would attend the inauguration of Donald Trump and hold high-level meetings in Washington.
60.
Salome Zourabichvili described the Georgian state as being "practically on the verge of collapse", with state capture by a single party and single person.
61.
Salome Zourabichvili stated that she remained president and would remain so until a new election can be held.
62.
Salome Zourabichvili was returning from the Munich Security Conference when a group of individuals confronted her, shouting insults and throwing eggs.
63.
Salome Zourabichvili has organized a number of meetings and attended conferences aiming for the empowerment of women and young girls.
64.
In June 2022, Salome Zourabichvili condemned the homophobic protest by far-right groups in front of the EU delegation offices in Tbilisi.
65.
Salome Zourabichvili refused to sign or veto the controversial "queer propaganda" law passed by parliament on 17 September 2024, which drew criticism from civil society and international partners for restricting rights and freedoms.
66.
Critics questioned why Salome Zourabichvili did not veto the law, with some suggesting it was a strategic move to prevent Georgian Dream from using an extraordinary session to override her veto for political gain.
67.
Salome Zourabichvili had called the law anti-European and anti-democratic, advocated for its repeal to align with EU recommendations, and attended the funeral of trans woman and media personality Kesaria Abramidze, who was murdered shortly after the law's passage.
68.
Salome Zourabichvili supported the protesters and said she would veto the bill if it came to that.