Bera Ivanishvili, the eldest son of the founder and honorary chairman of “Georgian Dream” Bidzina Ivanishvili, stated that Georgia is “his heritage, blood, and family” to him, and that he does not divide the Georgian people into those who voted for “Dream” and those who voted against it.
In an interview with Azerbaijani businessman Emin Agalarov, the former son-in-law of the President of Azerbaijan, he stated that the Georgian people are a single whole to him.
“Georgia for me is my heritage, my blood, my family. I look at Georgia as a single whole, regardless of political opinions. All over the world, on the internet, propaganda has deeply divided people into many categories—conservatives, liberals.
But I say this sincerely, from the bottom of my heart: I don’t want it to sound cliché, but I love all Georgians, and if—to give the simplest example—I see a Georgian in a fight in America, for instance, I won’t ask or try to find out who they voted for.
Georgia will always be my homeland and my love,” he stated.
According to him, despite the existence of negative comments online, he has never encountered negativity in real life from Georgian citizens, which is “a huge honor, a huge joy” for him.
According to Bera Ivanishvili, it is impossible to deceive the people. And if you do the wrong thing, everyone will know it.
Bera Ivanishvili called his father “the most principled, most decent, most patriotic person” he knows. He recounted an episode when, according to him, a choice had to be made: either the whole family had to leave Georgia and never return, or fight “for the justice of the Georgian people.”
“Those were very difficult times,” Bera Ivanishvili said, noting that he “fought side by side” with his father.
“And when he had one of his last public political speeches, a political speech, I remember him thanking everyone who participated in this <process>. And when he started talking about the family, he thanked my mother, my brothers, and my sister, but skipped me. I remember standing backstage and thinking, what is happening?! And at the very end of his speech, he thanked me… And that was a very special moment in my life—I will never forget it,” the billionaire’s son stated.
When asked how he feels about criticism directed at him due to the “rich dad” factor, Bera replied that his biggest critic is himself. And that criticism can be objective.
“Criticism can be objective. <…> I am focused on, thinking about what I can improve and change in this life… Criticism will always be there—I cannot control it. Maybe I wouldn’t like myself either if I saw myself from the outside… The biggest critic is myself… I always strive to become better,” he concluded.
